I'll Love You Long After You're Gone
by PotterHead1996
Summary: 1500 years after Arthur's death at Avalon, Merlin works as a tutor with his housemate Kerry Mason, still waiting for his King. When Merlin's magic starts acting out of control, he is drawn to the lake and is certain Arthur will return. However it seems destiny has other plans, and it's not just the King who returns. Merlin now finds that he has some 21st century explaining to do...
1. The Lake

_**Hey guys! Been working on this Merlin fanfic for ages! It's set 1,500 years after Arthur's death, in the modern day. It's not AU, as all the stuff in the 5 series have happened, just a very long time ago :P It IS Merlin/Arthur, but that doesn't happen for a while, and if you don't like Merthur/what's implied, don't read it :) and please don't hate. Anyway hope you enjoy it! I have LOADS more to come! I have been posting parts of this on the facebook page 'His Name Merlin', as Admin Mara :) Hope you like it!**_

_**-*Disclaimer, I do not own the BBC characters or the previous series storyline etc, just writing what I think happens in the future.*-**_

"Merlin, are you listening to me?"

"Hmm? Oh…yeh!"

Kerry sighed. "No you're not! You always go like this when we come here! It's just a bloody lake, you've seen it loads of times before!"

Merlin turned and smiled at his best friend. He _had_ been here loads of times…not that she knew howmany.

"Sorry, Kerry…you were saying?"

She sighed and shook her head, an affectionate smile on her lips as she looked at his weary expression. "I was saying that for the project, the students should do it in pairs or groups and have a presentation between them?"

"Sounds good…" he mumbled, zoning out again.

"Merlin! Urgh right! Let's get out of here and talk in a Starbucks or at home or something! I'm just not getting through to you whilst we're here and we really need to get this done."

He looked apologetic. "Sorry…I just…this lake spaces me out, you know?"

Kerry laughed and rose to her feet, holding her hand out to him. "Yeh, I know alright!"

Merlin smiled up at her again and took her offered hand. They made their way back to the car park like that, hand in hand.

Any strangers who saw them may have thought that they were a couple but the truth was that they were actually just very good friends, nothing more.

In fact Kerry Mason and Merlin Emrys shared a three bedroom house (in a totally platonic way). Their families had known each other forever! The Mason family had always been friends with the Emrys family, but Kerry could only vaguely remember Merlin's father. He'd been friends with her parents, but had gone away travelling whilst she was a toddler and then several years later, his son had moved to the town. Kerry could never quite get over how alike father and son were, in terms of character and looks.

It was through university and long days in the library that Merlin, Kerry and her step-brother Sam had become friends, Merlin had helped her out with her essays, his extensive knowledge of history being a great help, but no romance had ever blossomed between them (as all the other students had imagined it to). And Merlin and Sam were good friends, though he wasn't as close to Sam as he was with Kerry.

After graduating and having the odd job here and there, Merlin and Kerry now worked together at the university, teaching extra classes that were just for the sake of education, and not part of a degree. Merlin Emrys taught extra history classes (his knowledge of the history of Great Britain had no equal in the entire country) and Kerry also helped with extra history, but did some geography too. What was odd about Mr Emrys was his young age. He was only 26 yet he had such an extensive knowledge of history already, and to be tutoring classes at a university level at his age, well, people gave him lot of respect.

About a year or two later after getting their jobs at the university, they lived and worked together as friends and were now collaborating for a project that they were both doing with the students.

"So what legends should they work on?" Merlin asked in an attempt to focus his mind.

"Oh I dunno…Greek, Celtic, Roman, Arthurian-" Merlin's hand tightened in hers a little.

"I like the idea of Roman or Celtic." He said, trying to smile. Kerry glanced at him. She'd never understood his strange Arthurian aversion. Merlin knew a lot about the topic, this she knew, yet he never liked to speak about it. Maybe he just didn't believe in it and thought it was a children's story. Funny though as he was named after the famous Arthurian warlock, a fact she'd once teased him about. He'd not liked that. At all.

"Fine, Roman or Celtic it is…" she sighed, letting go of his hand to rummage in her bag for her car keys.

Merlin folded his arms and leant lazily on the bonnet, looking back at the lake they'd just been sat by. Children ran around playing tag or some such game, whilst parents queued by the little ice-cream shop. Couples lounged against each other in the shade with books and snacks in hand as a bunch of hikers trekked past. Lake Avalon was a popular tourist attraction, as it had been for a number of years now. Merlin could remember decades back, when the money-spinning potential of the beautiful lake had been realised. Initially he wasn't too keen on the idea of his precious lake becoming a tourist attraction, but then after several years of its growing popularity he thought that as long as they did nothing to the actual lake, Merlin didn't mind how popular it became.

Since he and Kerry had become friends, they'd spent one Saturday a month (if they could find the time) at the Lake. She knew he grew quiet and ever so slightly morose whenever they came, but this was the one thing he ever asked to do, and he was such a good friend to her that she couldn't refuse him.

"Ah!" Kerry exclaimed then, "found the little bugger!" and she produced the car key with a flourish. Merlin, with one last glance at the lake, trudged round to the passenger seat and waited till the door clicked open before climbing in.

Several boring weeks passed. It was mid-March now and the students had been getting on with their projects very well; the weather, as usual had been consistently rainy when Merlin started having headaches.

At first they were only the odd niggling ones that came and went. He found that the modern medicines like paracetamol helped a great deal, that was one thing Merlin loved about this century – the medical advancements.

But as days became weeks they intensified, so that the average painkillers didn't even mute the pain. It was becoming a problem in class as he found he often had to pause to sit down, rub his temples and squeeze his eyes shut for a few minutes. Kerry was concerned and forced him to go to the doctor, who just prescribed some stronger painkillers, which helped initially but after a few days stopped muting the agony that just seemed to keep growing. Merlin, somewhat annoyed and reluctant, was referred to specialists who after many tests, could find no physical fault with his health and couldn't tell why Merlin was plagued by these splitting headaches.

To his great displeasure, the university ordered him to take some time off work and allow Kerry to substitute his classes. So every morning Merlin was left lying immobile on the sofa or in bed for the entire day with his eyes shut, blinds down and everything that made any sound whatsoever turned off, until Kerry came home and coaxed him to nibble some sandwiches and drink tea.

What disturbed Merlin the most, and what he could tell no one about, was that his magic felt like it was going haywire! Some days he could feel it crackling at his fingertips ready to burst out, and other days it seemed to ripple through his whole body, making him feel nauseous. But the worst was when the pain was concentrated right behind his eyes, so that he daren't open them at all for a whole day in case he couldn't control a sudden outburst of power, which only added to the feeling of trapped magic inside of him.

After two and a half weeks of being stuck indoors feeling like death, Merlin asked Kerry if she'd take him to the lake. In the few hours he'd been able to sleep; his dreams had been bursting with images of Arthur and the old days, filling him with a deep sadness and heartache, but also an odd yet intense craving to be at the lake. It was like he _had_ to go there; he _needed_ to be at the lake.

Not entirely convinced that a trip out was good for Merlin's health especially in the awful weather, Kerry, after a lot of feeble persuasion from her ill best friend, reluctantly agreed. Merlin was relieved; he had to get to the lake and he was in no fit state to drive himself.

That weekend, when Kerry had no classes, they set out to Avalon. It was only about a five-to-ten minute journey by car to the lake and Kerry nearly turned round to take Merlin back home when he moaned with pain from the loud engine and the pelting of rain on the windows which were torture to his ears. But he begged her not to, and shaking her head with worry she continued.

Pulling up in the empty car park, Kerry switched off the engine and looked out through the rain.

"There is literally no one here…I think this is the first time I've ever seen it this quiet." She spoke, slightly awed.

Merlin grimaced, Kerry assumed it was due to the pain, but in actuality he was thinking about the many lonely times he'd been here when there wasn't even a town nearby, let alone tourists.

"I'm going to…just going to head over…to the shore…" he mumbled rubbing his head.

The throbbing in his head right now was the worst it had been since the headaches had started. Every part of his body begged him to ask Kerry to drive them back home so he could crawl into bed, but his mind was screaming at him to get to the lake-side. As for his magic, Merlin could almost feel something physically tugging him out of the car.

"Merlin, I don't think you should get out. Just stay here! Or at least let me help you over, then we'll come straight back!"

"No, Kerry. I'll…I'll be fine I promise! I just need to see it! I'll be back soon okay? Just…stay here."

Kerry frowned. "But it's pouring with rain! You'll catch a cold and that will be two lots of illness!"

Merlin who was already slowly climbing out of the car turned back and smiled.

"Please, Kerry? I'll be okay."

Kerry sent a glare back at him but grabbed her bag from the back seat and pulled a book out. Merlin sensing this was her giving in, heaved himself outside and shut the door, wincing at the loud noise.

Staring round he saw that indeed there was nobody around. This was the first time in decades that the lake had been completely devoid of human life. Not even any hikers were out battling the elements, as he had seen on occasion. Slowly Merlin began hobbling down the path towards the lake, already wet through from the heavy rain.

Everything around him was spinning as the agony and magic building up inside of him grew unbearable. He glanced behind, but he was far enough down the path so that the car park was out of sight.

Turning back around, Merlin stared out at Lake Avalon for a few moments before he felt a strange jolt like an electric shock go through him. With a cry he fell to his knees. Upon opening his eyes, he saw that his hands were emitting a strange glittering gold light, but he had uttered no spell. Shakily he rose to his feet and stumbled forward to the lake's edge, pain and magic coursing through his entire being. Just as he reached the shore he collapsed into the mud again, the rain pouring over him.

Cold water seeped through his clothes until he felt like his bones had turned to ice. With a grunt of effort Merlin lifted himself onto his knees. The intense rainfall had raised the lake's waters ever so slightly and without noticing, Merlin's knees were submerged in the lapping water. Thunder boomed across the sky and lightning struck in the distance. He looked out across the lake, but couldn't see much with the rain blurring his vision.

The island looked more mystic than usual, with fog beginning to envelope it. Another wave of pain surged through him and he cried out as he raised his head to the sky. Then, as the rain fell onto his face, he felt it.

Something was coming. Something big.

Gradually he became aware of his magic; he could feel it welling up inside him at his fingertips and behind his eyes.

And then he felt something snap inside of him. Lifting his hands to the dark sky, he felt the magic brim over and practically explode out from him. Such power was flowing through the ancient young warlock and into the air, the lake, the rain, the ground. Words from the Old Religion, words he'd never uttered before poured out from his mouth; he had no control over it. His normal quiet and gentle voice was now almost a roar, a cry to the gods, an unearthly yell that contended with the thunder and lightning booming around him.

He could feel himself calling back through the past to Arthur, visions of his best friend and king assaulting him as his voice continued shouting into the storm.

And then as quickly as the thunder and lightning had arrived, it seemed to stop, as did Merlin's voice.

A ray of golden sunshine gleamed through the dark clouds, bathing Merlin, the lake and the island in warm light. For a moments all grew still and peaceful as the sun warmed his damp skin. Silence fell; the only audible sound was of Merlin's own ragged breathing. He looked around in confusion and ran a hand through his damp black hair, still in shock. The headache was gone, his magic felt normal, in fact everything about him felt great! But what the hell had just happened?!

Merlin sensed rather than knew that something important had just occurred. And he'd never wished for Gaius's or even Kilgharrah's advice more than at that moment.

The lake was still and calm and the island seemed completely normal, the unsettling mist gone. Merlin's rapid breathing slowed down and he rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand, images of Arthur still burned into his retinas.

Standing up slowly, he looked around. It looked like nothing had happened, except a great downpour of rain. He squinted into the sun, and then back at the lake. There was still no one there. Heaving a sigh, Merlin turned and trudged back to the car park, utterly mud-covered and soaked…and very confused.

Kerry was standing by the car waiting when a very wet and cold looking Merlin rounded the corner.

"Oh Merlin! I told you!" she ran round to the boot of the car and grabbed a blanket from inside before jogging over and wrapping it round his shivering frame. Oddly enough he had one of his endearing smiles on his face.

"I feel so much better, Kerry. My headache's completely gone!"

She blinked at him. "Gone? Wh- what do you mean 'gone'? It can't just go...can it?"

He winked impishly. "Apparently so!" and with that he climbed into the car, leaving a slightly confused Kerry standing outside.

Back at the house Merlin felt good, _really_ good! He took a quick shower before turning on some music and dancing round the kitchen. At one point he was singing (rather loudly) along to one of his favourite songs, 'You're the Voice' by John Farnham, doing all sorts of little actions whilst he made some lunch for them both. He made Kerry sing the 'woooah's with him before he let her have her meal. Shaking her head, slightly baffled, she ate the rather lovely Caesar salad. What on earth had happened to him at the lake?

"Let's go into town this afternoon! Or go for a bike ride! Or paint the spare room! Or visit the castle ruins up on the hill!"

He was _so_ wired, his entire face grinning excitedly like a little kid. There were several things she'd needed to do to prepare for the classes next week, but having Merlin back to his old self again and so happy, changed her mind.

"Why don't we do them all?"

Astonished that she so quickly agreed, Merlin blinked once before breaking into another large grin.

So during the next few hours, Merlin and Kerry cycled to the castle ruins, then into town, bought some paint at a DIY shop and arrived back home in time to paint the room and have a paint-fight in the process.

By eight o'clock in the evening, Kerry was covered in paint and giggling like she was five years old. She announced she was going to take a long bath.

Merlin wandered back downstairs and grabbed himself a glass of water from the kitchen before opening the back door to let some cool air in.

Wind gently tossed his hair about and into his eyes as he peered out towards the setting sun. He was glad they'd got a house that wasn't completely enclosed by large, dark buildings. That would have suffocated him. Thankfully it was a nice area they lived in; average looking houses with decent sized back gardens, not too far from the university, not too close to student residences, and a short journey to the lake, which Merlin liked.

Inhaling deeply, his mind wandered to the events of the morning. What _had_ happened? His magic was now back to normal, he proved this in the next few minutes by summoning his mobile from the kitchen to check the time. He lazily caught the device as it flew to him. After slipping his phone into his pocket, he downed the glass of water and sent it back into the house before leaning over and rubbing the dust and paint from his hair.

And that's when he heard it.

_Emrys…_

He stood up straight. What the hell was that? It couldn't be what he thought it was…could it? His ocean-blue coloured eyes darted about, looking to see if anyone was there.

"Kerry?" he called into the house but he could only hear the radio in the kitchen, no one else was around.

_Emrys…_

The voice on the wind came again. A bright image of Lake Avalon suddenly flashed into his mind, causing him to stagger in surprise. It was as if someone had sent him the vision, _making_ him think of it and again he felt the need to be by the lake.

He jogged up the stairs and knocked on the bathroom door.

"Kerry, I'm just popping out to er…get some stuff from the shops…"

Her muffled voice came through the door.

"Mm-kay. Ooh can you get me some chocolate? Pretty please?"

Merlin barely heard her as he already halfway down the stairs. He called back to her passively, "Yeh sure whatever, see you in a bit."

After grabbing his coat he went outside and climbed into the car. Soon enough he was speeding on his way to the Lake.

Usually Merlin never sped in a car, it caused too much hassle and as for handing his licence over to be checked, that caused an unnecessary feeling of guilt and panic; he hated that all his forms of ID were technically fake.

In all fairness they had to be, seeing as he'd been around since medieval times. It meant he had no legitimate birth certificate, no relatives and his original hometown no longer existed. The amount of lies he'd spun to gain ID hurt his head, especially when people asked him about his life and family. To anyone interested, his parents had died whilst travelling when he was young, he had no known relatives and his ancestors were from this town.

Apart from his travels round the globe over the years, Merlin had always lived in this area, moving into the town when it was built so that he could remain near to the lake, keeping himself to himself. But with Kerry's family it was a little bit different. He'd always been friends with them and had known them for a _long_ time. In fact he saw it as his responsibility to look out for them.

However the fact that he was immortal meant that every several decades he would have to pretend to move away, or would sometimes fake his own death. Then, soon enough his 'long lost son' would return to his hometown years later. Of course he was the spitting image of his father...and grandfather. In fact Kerry had always assumed that the man standing next to her grandfather in the black and white photograph on their dining room wall was _Merlin's _grandfather. How could she know that it was actually Merlin himself?

Eventually Merlin pulled into the lake's car park. It was still unearthly quiet, as if no one had been near it all day which was odd, given the glorious sunshine that had appeared after this morning's downpour.

He cut off the car's engine and slowly climbed out, into perfect silence. No cars were passing on the nearby road, there were no planes flying overhead, in fact even the birds were silent. Running a hand through his messy dark hair, he glanced all around the empty space. With a shrug, he slowly made his way down to the lake, his trainers crunching against the dusty path.

Upon reaching the shore, Merlin immediately noticed someone had been there; there were deep footprints all around in the mud, recent ones, but not the sort of marks he may have left from the morning. These weren't made by trainers; they were bigger, wider and had no customary grip marks. Frowning, he knelt down to get a closer look. As he did so, he heard a noise from the trees nearby: the scuff of a boot against a rock.

Immediately he was back on his feet and moving cautiously towards the noise. He clenched his fists before flexing his fingers, ready to counter an attack, but no more sound came. After waiting in silence for about five minutes, Merlin decided that it had been nothing. With one more glance around at the lake, he moved away back towards the path.

Someone sprung out from the foliage and before Merlin could turn in surprise, an arm was suddenly around his neck holding him a locked position, causing his air supply to not be entirely cut off, but definitely become restricted. Then he felt something that he'd not felt for many _many_ years. The point of a sword resting against his back.

"Who are you?! And where am I?!" an angry voice growled in his ear. Merlin felt his head spin and his vision blur for a second or two. The voice. _The voice_! He'd thought he'd never hear _THAT_ voice ever again!

"Gwaine?!" he sputtered out. "What the _hell?!"_


	2. The Knight

_**Here we are part two! Thanks for all the follows and lovely reviews from the first chapter! :D Hope you like this part as much as the others! :) xxx**_

_***Disclaimer – I do not own the BBC characters, or any previous storylines etc, just writing my perspective of what happens in the future***_

"Merlin?! Is that…?" the arm immediately let go and promptly spun him round by the shoulder.

There was the confirmation. Sir Gwaine stood before him, in his Knight's attire, an incredulous look on his face. "By the dragons, Merlin! What are you doing here, man?" immediately Merlin was pulled into a tight hug. He returned the embrace, still in shock. Gwaine. Gwaine was here! How? Why?

"Where on earth…" Gwaine pulled back, a grin on his face. It slowly fell as he then he took in Merlin's clothing; a dark green hoody with 'Harry Potter!' plastered across the front in large lettering, grey baggy jeans and old scruffy trainers. "What in the name of dragons are you wearing, Merlin?" Confused and worried chocolate brown eyes met the warlock's deep blue ones. "Where's Arthur? Did you manage to help him? I thought I'd failed him! Where's Perce? Is he alright?! Where is he? Where are we?! Wait, Morgana what happened to her…what happened to Percival? Damn it, Merlin will you answer me?!" He quickly sheathed his sword and looking pleadingly into Merlin's eyes.

Merlin shook himself out of his confused stupor. "Gwaine I don't know what to say…I hardly know how to tell you this…or where to begin…just er…sit down for a moment, will you?"

Slowly Gwaine lowered himself to sit on a nearby fallen tree trunk. Several minutes passed with Merlin pacing and running his hand anxiously through his hair or rubbing his jaw, which happened to have quite a bit of stubble growing on it, he'd not been able to shave for a while.

"Listen Gwaine…this is going to be hard for you to hear or believe…but I swear to you, it is all true."

A frown appeared on the handsome knight's face. "Merlin, you're beginning to worry me…what is it, what's happened? Shouldn't we get back to Camelot? You could tell me on the journey."

He rose to his feet but Merlin practically shouted at him. "No! Stop! Just…sorry…just sit down…please?" Gwaine's expression was now full of unease, but nonetheless he sat back on the log.

"Well you'd better start explaining…and soon, I'm getting concerned here! What's with the weird clothes anyway?"

Merlin waved his hand impatiently, dismissing the question for now. "I'm going to need you to remain calm throughout this…and allow me a bit of thinking space, I'm just as confused as to what's happened as you are, okay?" Gwaine nodded slowly. "Right…what can you remember?"

He shrugged. "The last I remember is you were helping Arthur get to Avalon…Perce and I tried to kill Morgana but…she had other plans. She tortured me into telling her where you were heading and then I passed out, at least I think I did. Merlin I'm so sorry! I failed Arthur!" Gwaine buried his face in his hands.

Merlin shook his head fervently. "No, you did nothing of the sort, Morgana is gone now. I…well let's just say I took care of her." He took a deep breath. "This isn't going to be easy for you to hear Gwaine but…"

The man looked up and pulled his eyebrows down in confusion. "But what?"

"You d-…." He couldn't get the word out, sighing in frustration he lowered himself to Gwaine's eye level and drew another shaky breath. "You died. You've been dead for about one and a half thousand years…Arthur…he died at Avalon, I'm the one who failed, there was nothing I could do for him. But I was told he would return one day…and I've been wandering the earth since…waiting for him. For one and a half thousand years."

Gwaine blinked once before bursting into laughter, Merlin rubbed his eyes with the palm of his hand. "Gwaine, listen to me-"

"You've been on the cider haven't you, Merlin? That would explain the stupid clothes! Ah you had me going there, you really did! 'One-and-a-half-thousand years, Gwaine', tell me your secret, Merlin! You look good for a man nearing his second millennia!"

Merlin glared in frustration. "I have magic."

Gwaine continued to howl in laughter for a few seconds more, before Merlin's words registered. He abruptly stopped his hysterics. "Sorry, say that again?"

"I have magic. I'm a sorcerer, Gwaine." He spoke gently before waving his hand towards the lake, uttering some words from the Old Religion. A horse made of water rose out of the surface and then crashed back down. The rippling water had fully settled and was once again still and silent before Gwaine's quiet voice came.

"Does…does Arthur know?"

The warlock sighed. "He did. I told him before I took him to Avalon. But not even my magic could save him…he's truly dead, Gwaine, I wasn't lying. Arthur died in my arms; I gave him a King's funeral on the lake. That was one and half thousand years ago but I didn't die, goodness knows I tried to…I've gone through a lot." He paused to ponder quietly for a moment or two before continuing. "This is the year 2013. I don't know why you're here, but…but you are. Camelot no longer exists; in fact Albion is called 'England' now, part of a United Kingdom…like Arthur always wanted. Everyone and everything else we knew is gone."

He placed his hand on Gwaine's shoulder. The man who Merlin had always known to chatter endlessly was silent for a full ten minutes, staring at the floor. Suddenly he gripped Merlin's hoody and pulled him close.

"Swear to it. Swear to me you are telling the truth, Merlin or so help me, friend that you are, I'll run you through with my sword. This is not a funny prank." He snarled. Merlin had never seen Gwaine angry like this before, but he understood why.

"I swear to it. I wouldn't make this up, you know me, I'm a terrible liar! I start sweating, my vision blurs, my brain stops working…"

Gwaine looked into his eyes for a moment more before letting him go, giving a weak smile. "No change there then." Merlin's mind instantly flashed up an image of Arthur. He could remember a time when they'd had a similar conversation…

"Of course," he agreed, glad that Gwaine could still manage to tease, "But I honestly have no idea why you're here Gwaine, I may need to do some research…"

The poor, out of place knight nodded before rising to his feet. Merlin stood with him.

"Well if there's no Camelot…where the hell is the nearest tavern? I'm going to need something to drink…something strong…" Merlin smiled. If anyone could cope with news this big, it was Gwaine.

"Pub. They're called pubs now, short for 'public house'. Very rarely is the word 'tavern' used…except maybe by a few old souls in Devon or somewhere deep in the West Country."

"Sorry, where?"

"Ah…right…you have a lot to learn. Anyway I think we'll skip going to a pub, tonight Gwaine. Too much, too soon. I'll take you to my house; I think I may have something for you there. You look like you could do with a rest…and a change of clothing…"

Gwaine looked down at Merlin's hoody. "Nothing like what you have on, I hope! I presume with this attire you're still single?" he chuckled at his own teasing. Merlin shoved his arm in a friendly manner.

"You'll be alright, Gwaine, I know you will." The man nodded, his wavy shoulder-length hair bobbing as he did so.

"I hope so, Merlin, I really hope so."

Merlin noticed Gwaine's attempt at keeping a positive attitude and composure on the short walk up the path. He could see the knight was trying hard to keep his calm demeanour but knew that inside, he was probably screaming. Perhaps a sleeping spell would do him good tonight.

Rounding the corner, Gwaine rapidly ground to a halt. His hand moved slowly to the hilt of his sword.

"Stay…very still…don't move. I don't think it's seen us yet…" Merlin followed Gwaine's eyes and saw what had caused the knight to draw his sword. He laughed, tears forming in his eyes. Gwaine batted at his arm, "Shush, man! Do you want us to get killed? Oh…sorry…I forgot…you er…can't die. Hush, anyway! I don't want to die; I've only just come back! What a waste!"

Merlin shook his head. "No Gwaine. It's alright! This is what is used as transport nowadays. This is the modern horse!"

With a suspicious frown, Merlin's old friend moved closer to the car. He jabbed at the silver bonnet with his sword. "No! Don't do that!" Merlin exclaimed running over, causing Gwaine to yelp and hold his sword out towards the vehicle defensively. "Aw you've scratched it now look! Oh never mind." Turning back around, he noticed Gwaine's position and smiled. "It's quite alright. It isn't alive; it's not going to attack you. Think of a horse-drawn cart; now imagine the horse is inside here," he pointed at the bonnet, "It's called a car. It gets you to places much quicker than walking...or horse-riding."

Gwaine approached it doubtfully, taking a glove off to feel the cool metal. "It's so…shiny…where does this armour come from? I must get some!"

Merlin shook his head. This world would take a lot of explaining. He opened the car door as gently as he could, trying not to panic him. "You sit inside, Gwaine," Merlin nodded to the seat when Gwaine did nothing but stand there, looking blank. "And you may want to give me your sword; otherwise it's going to be very difficult to sit down. Don't worry; I'll put it somewhere safe." Merlin took the sword that was offered to him and put it onto the back seat. Carefully and cautiously, Gwaine lowered himself into the vehicle. "I'm going to shut the door now, don't panic okay? I'll walk round and sit in the other seat."

And he did just that, Gwaine jumping ever so slightly when Merlin closed his door and again when the other one opened. "Right. You'll need to put the safety belt on uh…pass me that thing by your head…" eventually after a lot of pointing to the buckle and plenty of tugging on the belt, Gwaine was securely strapped in.

Merlin gently and briefly explained how the car would work, and move and finally they set off, Merlin driving extremely slowly for Gwaine's sake.

* * *

Every time another car zoomed past, the brave knight would jump in his seat. Merlin felt awful for him. This world was so different to Camelot; he'd not really noticed the changes as they'd all been gradual for him, but to someone whose last memory of this area was woodland, knights and mythical creatures it must be so difficult.

"Gwaine…just so you're not overwhelmed, perhaps you should cover your eyes when we enter the town…? It's very different to Camelot…I'll show you round another time, yeh?"

He heaved a sigh but covered his eyes as they drove, arriving a short while later at Merlin's home. Gwaine lowered his hands and stared up at the brick house in utter bewilderment.

"It's so…the walls…it's tall." He opened and shut his mouth like a goldfish. Merlin nodded whilst walking to the door and fiddled with his keys. He was about to open the door when he suddenly remembered. He turned to Gwaine who was stood right behind him. Merlin jumped a little at the other man's sudden proximity.

"Ah er…Gwaine, personal space, mate. Um anyway I should tell you this now. This house, I live in and share it with another person. She's called Kerry."

Gwaine's eyebrows rose at that. "She? Are you and…Kerry wed?"

Merlin laughed out loud, the idea of Kerry and him, married! "No! Not at all, we're just good friends."

Gwaine grinned cheekily and winked at Merlin. "I see, I see. Never thought you'd get a girl, Merlin."

Merlin blushed and shook his head quickly. "No no, I'm not…we're not…she's just a friend! A man and woman living in the same house and not being married isn't really 'frowned upon' any more. It's actually quite normal. House-sharing, co-habitation, just some more things you'll have to learn." He turned to the door again with a rueful smile before thinking of something else. "Gwaine…she doesn't know about my magic…well in all honesty she doesn't really know me. She thinks I'm a completely ordinary person of only 26. Please don't mention Camelot…or Arthur. I'll answer any questions about you alright?"

"You live with this woman and she doesn't know about your magic?"

"Well I worked all those years for Arthur and he didn't either."

Gwaine looked at the ground awkwardly. He was still unused to the idea of Merlin being a sorcerer. With a last glance at the knight, Merlin opened the door.

"Kerry?" he called.

"Hey sweetie! Did you get me choc-" but the sentence wasn't finished, for Kerry let out a shriek.

Merlin and Kerry had lived with each other for quite a few years, first in student halls, and now in their own home. They had established a long while ago that there would never be any romantic relationship between them and it hadn't taken long before they both saw each other as siblings, besides Kerry had never known Merlin to have a girlfriend, so she assumed that he wasn't really into girls.

This meant they could be comfortable in their own home and around each other without feeling any awkwardness or having much formality between them.

So it was perfectly normal for Kerry to appear at the top of the stairs from the bathroom after just vacating her long and luxurious bath wearing just her underwear with her hair wrapped in a towel. Normally Merlin wouldn't notice or care and Kerry was the same, however Kerry wasn't at all expecting the tall and very handsome man, who was standing next to Merlin with his eyes open wide in shock, to be there.

With a shriek she fled to her bedroom. "MERLIN EMRYS! YOU GET HERE RIGHT NOW!" she yelled.

"Oh great!" Merlin ran his hand through his hair, "Gwaine, could you um…do you want to er…"

"I'll stay here." Gwaine mumbled, crimson red. Whilst he'd seen his fair share of women in the past, he had not expected the women of this new era to walk around so…undressed.

Merlin nodded his thanks and silently hoped that the overwhelmed man would be okay. He took the stairs three at a time and knocked on Kerry's door.

"Get in here!" she hissed. Opening the door a crack, he slipped in. She was standing there, wrapped in a fluffy dressing gown, and had very flushed cheeks. Some hair had slipped out from underneath the towel and was dripping onto the fluffy material.

"Merlin Emrys when you decide to suddenly bring home a guest you call me first!"

"Look, I'm sorry Kerry – I thought you'd be out of the bath and dressed…man how long were you in there?"

"That's irrelevant! You tell me, or phone and tell me that you've got a friend coming home with you so I don't walk out in my underwear like that!"

Merlin tried to keep his smile hidden, with little avail. Kerry swatted feebly at his head before laughing a little herself. "Who is he anyway?"

Merlin took a deep breath. He'd been practising in his head on the way home what to tell Kerry.

"He's an old friend of mine and just needs a place to crash for a while. He's uh…an actor in an historical re-enactment group. Yeh he likes to stay in character, finds it easier…hence the chainmail. He'll act and talk weird, but only cause he wants the practice…" he waited, not breathing, whilst he watched Kerry's face. He was a terrible liar, but to his surprise Kerry smiled and nodded.

"Sure, let me get dressed and I'll come down and introduce myself…and apologise." She raised an eyebrow at Merlin at the last word. Raising his hand to rub the back of his neck, he looked at the floor. "Yeh…sorry I didn't warn you about him coming over, didn't know myself until a short while ago…"

"Oh it's alright now. Did you get me chocolate?"

One look at his guilty face told her. "Urgh, clotpole! Well at least go and make me a cup of tea!" she gave him a gentle shove towards the door. Merlin smiled at her.

"Just remember when you introduce yourself, he'll act like he's from Camelot or something!" and with a short, forced laugh he wandered out and downstairs.

Camelot? Merlin never mentioned anything linked with the Arthurian legend, not even during his classes, he left that to her. With a shake of her head, she dismissed it and grabbed some clothes.


	3. The Fort

_**Off to America (for the first time ever eek!) on Monday, just for the week, so I'll upload a longer section for ya'll to read (see? Trying out the lingo already) ;) Hope you enjoy this bit!**_

Merlin was partway through explaining the modern kitchen to Gwaine when he heard Kerry on the stairs. Clearing his throat, he mouthed to the knight "Stay calm!"

She entered the kitchen and a little red coloured her cheeks again as she glanced over at Gwaine.

"Hi, I'm Kerry, Merlin's housemate and honorary sister." She looked at Gwaine expectantly, who just blinked in return. Merlin jumped in.

"This is er…Gwaine, a good friend of mine."

She frowned slightly at the name. "Gwaine…like Sir Gwaine, Arthur's knight?"

Gwaine looked over to Merlin in horror, thinking she'd guessed his real identity.

"Er yes like I said, he likes to stay in character. He's playing one of the knights in a re-enactment."

He looked at Gwaine and silently begged him to not say or do anything that would make Kerry suspicious.

Gwaine rose to his feet and walked over to her before taking her hand and raising it to his lips, bowing ever so slightly. "My lady. It is an honour to meet you," he said and then straightened again and looked over to Merlin questioningly. He hadn't done anything out of the ordinary had he? Surely common courtesy such as that had not disappeared since Camelot times?

Kerry was a little flustered but then gathered her wits. "Very good! Just like a real knight, being so chivalrous. Perhaps you could teach Merlin here a lesson or two." She laughed. "What re-enactment group are you with?" she asked then. His eyes flew wide and he looked over to Merlin again, panicking.

"Er…one in Ireland, hence the accent!" the warlock piped up; he knew Kerry had never been there and would therefore not know any sort of re-enactment group from that area. She nodded, not noticing the panic and tension written on both men's faces.

Kerry smiled at Gwaine, politely. "I see Merlin hasn't bothered to offer you a drink, or make me one," she narrowed her eyes at Merlin before turning to the kettle. "Tea or coffee?"

Gwaine looked perplexed. What was she asking of him? He didn't understand the question and glanced over towards Merlin who was making a 'T' sign with his hands, and mouthing the word desperately at him and replied with "Tea". He watched in bemusement as Kerry moved around the kitchen, grabbing strange looking tankards and suspicious looking small bags filled with dark leaves. Perhaps she was a sorceress too, or possibly an alchemist like Gaius. Soon she placed a steaming cup in front of him filled with a light brown liquid. Gwaine realised that holding the cup would be a difficult task with his leather gloves on so he took them off and touched the mug. He gave a yelp as he felt just how hot the surface was.

"Careful…it's hot…" Kerry warned, a little too late. Once the tea had cooled a little and with a nod of encouragement from Merlin the knight took a sip of the warm beverage.

"Well it's not ale, I'll tell you that! But," another sip, "it's not bad, not bad at all!"

Kerry looked between Merlin's relieved face and Gwaine's tea-intrigued one. "Right well I'm going to bed, it's late. Merlin, don't forget to call the university to tell them you're better tomorrow. Goodnight Merlin, Gwaine."

"Night, Kerry." Merlin glanced over towards her and then back to Gwaine, giving him a meaningful incline of the head.

"Oh er…goodnight, Kerry."

* * *

Once Merlin was sure Kerry had settled down in her room he led Gwaine upstairs to his own room.

"You can't wear that armour to bed, and I know I'm not exactly your size…" the warlock glanced at the taller and more muscular man standing beside him, "but here, these should be alright for sleeping in. They're Kerry's step-brother, Sam's pyjamas. He left them here last time he came to stay."

"Pyjamas? Odd name for clothes!" Gwaine chuckled as Merlin moved over to help him with his armour. Unbuckling the leather straps and heaving the chainmail off hurt the young warlock, not physically but emotionally. He was fully aware that he'd not done this laborious task since he'd done it for Arthur and felt the familiar pang in his chest. Why was Gwaine here? Why wasn't it Arthur? He was told Arthur would return, not anyone else.

Once the knight was armour-less and clothed in a dark red t-shirt with a small Tardis picture on and plain grey jogging bottoms, he looked quite different. All of Merlin's memories of the knights and Arthur were in medieval style clothes or chainmail. To see Gwaine in 21st century lounge clothes made him smile a little. Gwaine stared at himself in Merlin's mirror that hung on the wall, tilting his head from side to side.

"I have to say Merlin, however odd these clothes are…they are extremely comfortable! But what's this little blue box on here?" he pointed to the picture of the Tardis on his chest.

Merlin smiled to himself. "A story for another time, Gwaine. I'll show you to your room." He walked Gwaine to the spare room that had been painted that evening, it was still drying and smelt a little, so Merlin sighed and cast a spell. The odour disappeared and the paint immediately became dry. Gwaine shifted from foot to foot uncomfortably behind the warlock. Ignoring the other man's discomfort, Merlin cast another spell to put all the furniture that was piled away from the walls back into place.

Gwaine wandered over to the large double bed and sat down, his eyes widening at the soft material.

"This is heavenly! Wish we'd had these sort of beds back in Camelot…back home…" his eyes glazed over and Merlin walked over to him, sitting beside him on the bed.

"Listen, Gwaine...it's going to be tough getting used to this world, but…it won't be impossible. I'll help you as much as I can, I promise. There are also many questions that I'm not sure about myself but I swear I will try my utmost to find an explanation." Gwaine nodded slowly, and Merlin patted his back. "I know you're a little wary of my magic…but I think I should put a sleeping spell on you, just to help you rest. Your mind will be racing all night otherwise and you'll really need the sleep." Brown curls bounced gently as Gwaine nodded his agreement. "I suppose you're right. Okay, do your stuff!" Merlin rose to his feet as the knight clambered into the most comfortable bed he'd ever been in. The sorcerer muttered some strange words and his eyes flashed gold. Immediately Gwaine felt his brain go a little fuzzy and his eyelids began to droop. One question that had been niggling at his mind all evening suddenly rose to the surface. "Merlin," he mumbled as sleep started to overpower him.

"Yes?"

"I know you missed Arthur and all…but did you miss me?…"

Merlin chuckled quietly to himself from the doorway as he flipped the light switch. Gwaine, on the brink of unconsciousness, didn't even flinch at the display of electricity as he had been doing since he'd arrived at Merlin's home. "Very much. Goodnight, Gwaine." But only a soft snore was Merlin's reply. Gently he closed the door and stood on the landing on his own in the dark. Running his hand through his hair (he was doing that quite a lot recently) Merlin let out a deep breath.

What on earth had happened?

* * *

Back in his room Merlin sat on the floor, leaning against his bed. He reached underneath and his fingers brushed against the familiar wooden box. Quietly he pulled it out and placed it onto his lap. He looked down at it and sighed. It had been quite some time since he'd had this box out.

Slowly, Merlin opened the lid and looked down at the contents. Taking great care, he reached in and pulled out a faded blue shirt. He laid it out onto the floor, took out a brown jacket from the box and placed it down next to the shirt. Finally he removed the red neckerchief and held it in his hands, just looking at it. They were all beginning to fade again, the material spidery and thin. His eyes flashed gold and the clothing gradually replenished itself until it looked almost like it had a millennia-and-a-half ago.

Merlin wasn't really one for hoarding anything of sentimental value, but these…he'd never been able to throw these away. And seeing as after a while they would fade and grow old, Merlin had been using his magic to keep them from completely disappearing.

His hand hovered over the blue shirt, wavering slightly. Finally deciding to pick it up, he buried his face in the fabric. Maybe it was the magic's effects on it or maybe it was his imagination but Merlin swore it still smelt faintly of Arthur, from when the warlock had cradled his king on the shores of Avalon.

'Time heals everything'. That was a popular saying these days. But Merlin's wound had never healed. The pain had dulled a little over the many years, but it was still there.

Every now and then, the wound would reopen and Merlin would find himself drowning in overwhelming grief, loneliness, and something akin to anger. That was when he couldn't face the world any longer, when it seemed that Arthur was never going to rise and that he was trapped on this world, waiting for someone who would never come.

The first few times this had happened Merlin had been desperate, alone and empty. It felt like there was nothing of importance left in this world, Arthur wasn't going to come back and Merlin found he had no reason to continue.

One time he'd tried to drown himself in the lake, but had woken hours later on the shore, alive. Another time he'd taken a sword to himself. He finally thought that he'd done it this time and that the misery would be over as he lay bleeding on the ground. But again he'd woken up later, very much alive.

At first he reasoned that it must be his fault for doing something wrong, or some kind person kept finding him and saving him, but after several more attempts he realised it. He wasn't going to die.

Whether this meant that he still had his destiny to fulfil and that Arthur would indeed rise, or just because he was an extremely powerful sorcerer, he didn't know.

Once this had been ascertained, Merlin gave up and when the overpowering misery came over him, he would retreat somewhere for a while until it passed, shutting out the world. He wouldn't eat, he barely slept and when he finally returned to the real world, it looked as if he'd been suffering from some horrific illness. But he'd not had one of these really bad 'episodes' for a two and a quarter centuries.

However during these sad occasions, it wasn't just Arthur he mourned over, he also mourned for everyone else. Gaius, Gwen, the other knights, his mother, they were all gone now too and Merlin was left alone. He mourned over his long life that was the bane of his existence. For hundreds and thousands of years, men and women had searched for ways of prolonging life and still continued to do so, dreaming of immortality but in all honesty, immortality wasn't all it's cracked up to be. You just grew tired, so bone-tired of the never ending days, of never ending time. There comes a point where you are ready to die, to pass away from this world, but if you reach that point and keep living, it drains you. And Merlin felt drained.

With a sigh he placed the clothing back into the small chest and pushed it back under the bed. He wasn't alone any more now. Gwaine was back for some unknown reason, and Merlin vowed to himself that he would protect and look out for the man who was one of his best friends. And he would also find out why the hell Sir Gwaine was here in the first place.

* * *

"Psst, Merlin! Wake up you lazy sod. Here's a cup of coffee, I've got to dash to work now. Don't forget to call the uni today! By the way, does Gwaine drink coffee? I made him a cup but just wondered…"

"Mmm…what?..." Merlin rolled over under the thick duvet to face Kerry, then his eyes widened as he registered what she'd just said, "No don't give coffee to Gwaine! He er…doesn't like it! Just let him sleep."

"Sleep? He's downstairs watching the telly. You were right about the 'in character' thing by the way; acted as if he'd never seen one. Jumped about like a mad-man asking me 'what sort of sorcery it was', and 'where were the tiny people in the box?' But he's watching it now, mesmerised like a child, so I just left him to it."

The sleepy raven haired man suddenly sat bolt upright and his head connected with Kerry's, making a loud crack.

"OW! What the hell-? What did you do that for?!" she clutched at her forehead, spilling the coffee a little as she staggered backwards, her face contorted into a pained grimace.

"Aaah," he groaned in reply, holding his hand to the already forming lump on his head, "sorry didn't realise you were there. He's watching the telly?"

"Yeh, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone is on."

"Oh no…." he threw the covers off and raced downstairs, leaving a confused Kerry, with a lump of her own on her head, standing, holding a steaming mug of coffee.

"GWAINE! STOP NO! YOU WON'T UNDERSTAND! YOU'LL BE TOO-"

He paused as he ran into the living room. Gwaine was sat, still in his borrowed pyjamas, in the middle of the floor, with all the sofa pillows piled up round him like a fort. Kerry was right. He looked like a total child.

"Sunshine, daisies, butter mellow, turn this stupid, fat rat yellow!" Ron Weasley spoke. Gwaine jumped a little as a light flashed by the rat's head, but ultimately the poor creature remained grey. He let out a chuckle and then noticed Merlin standing there. Kerry walked past, waved at them (still clutching her head) and went out the door to work.

"Merlin! Come here! Look, this box has tiny people living in it. I nearly asked Kerry if it was because of your magic, but then remembered not to say anything about it. And look! Harry too is a wizard, do you know him? Oh and that Lord Voldemort seems like a fiend! He doesn't deserve the noble title of 'Lord'!"

Merlin rubbed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. "Gwaine, I really don't think you should watch anything right now. It could overwhelm you, you have no idea what's happened in the world. You'll be too confused!"

"Nonsense! I am a knight of Camelot! And we can take anything. Besides, this is very interesting. I must know what happens to Harry. I hope he kills this 'Lord Voldemort' soon!"

Merlin sighed. "Don't hold your breath!" he muttered.

"Pardon?"

"Nothing. What on earth are you sitting in?"

Gwaine looked round at his pillow fort and grinned. "Well seeing as Camelot castle has gone, I wanted to make one of my own. Always wanted a castle. And this stuff is much easier and far more comfortable to make it out of! Come on, get in! Then we can see what happens to Harry. They're nearing Hogwarts now, shh!"

Merlin sighed and slouched over to the 'fort'. They spent the next couple of hours watching the film, with Gwaine asking questions every other minute.

Finally when Harry had waved goodbye and the credits began to roll across the screen, Gwaine's mouth hung open.

"What?! Voldemort's not dead? But Merlin, surely Harry must be able to defeat this villain! Take me to this 'Lord' so that I can dispatch of him once and for all!"

With a roll of the eyes, Merlin stood up. "It's just a story Gwaine. And there are seven more movies after this, so there's plenty of time for Harry to 'get him'. If you liked it, then maybe you should read the books one day, when you're more used to this world."

Merlin left Gwaine in his little fort and went to the kitchen to make some bacon sandwiches. He knew the knight had been very fond of them back in Camelot.

As the bacon sizzled away in the pan, Merlin flicked through the newspaper Kerry had left on the counter. Gwaine, following his nose, drifted into the kitchen.

After a few short minutes, Merlin dished up the sandwiches and the knight tucked into them hungrily.

"So tell me what I've missed." He spoke around the food in his mouth

"Hmm?"

"Well a lot of things must have happened in the past millennia that are probably of some importance!"

Merlin pushed the newspaper to the side and looked at Gwaine. "You're right. A lot of things have happened. It's going to take long while to tell you. But I suppose you don't have to know everything in great detail, these days most people don't know a lot about their own country's history, so you'll be ok if there are some gaps in your knowledge. However there are some things that you really will need to know about."

Gwaine wolfed the last of his breakfast down and grinned over at his friend. "Well then, we'd better get started! You don't have any ale now do you?"

Merlin laughed and shook his head. "I promise we'll get you some later, but let's start on the history and culture of Great Britain!"

* * *

For the next week Gwaine learned all about the important events in the history of the world and began to adapt to the modern-day culture. Kerry seemed to get used to his presence as well; he made Merlin laugh more than usual and she liked that. Merlin had a nice laugh that spread the feeling and made you want to join in with him. His whole face lit up; his ocean blue eyes crinkled at the corners, a wide grin spread across his mouth and he made you feel happy too.

Somehow Merlin had managed to procure Gwaine some ID and sort of legal documents, and he made the knight swear on his honour not to tell Kerry.

Things were going smoothly until exactly a week after the strange events at the lake. Merlin was sat watching Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets with a captivated Gwaine when a familiar feeling crept up his spine. He shivered.

_Emrys…_

The voice began to whisper again.

_Emrys…_

For the second time, images of the lake flashed into his mind and he felt the same absurd craving to be there.

"Gwaine…I need you to…come with me. Just for a bit."

"Aw but Merlin! They're just about to drink the polyjuice potion!"

"Gwaine." His voice held a serious tone that the knight could not ignore.

Kerry had gone out for the evening to see Sam in the main town, she'd taken the bus meaning the car was free, which Gwaine was pleased about. So far, apart from watching Harry Potter, Gwaine's favourite modern pass-time was riding in the car and Merlin had promised to teach him at some point how to drive himself; he was greatly anticipating it.

* * *

Eventually Merlin pulled up at the lakeside car park. Again it was eerily quiet.

"Do you feel that?" the warlock whispered.

Gwaine didn't reply immediately, his eyes were darting about as if looking for something.

"Yeh…yeh I feel it."

There was something akin to an electrical charge in the air, and combined with the pregnant silence it was making their hearts thump and Merlin's magic start to crackle.

"Merlin…your hands…" Gwaine's worried voice broke through the other man's silent pondering. Looking down at his hands, Merlin saw the same golden, glittering light they had emitted before, now glowing again.

Quickly he fumbled with the door and practically fell out of the car. He was halfway down the path to the lake by the time Gwaine managed to get out and start after him.

Merlin reached the shore before Gwaine and looked out across the water. Raising his hands, he felt the power go through him. A sort of pulse of magic shot out from his hands and swept across the lake. Gwaine reached him them, just as the warlock's legs gave way and the knight caught him.

"Gwaine…what just happened?" Merlin mumbled, leaning heavily on the taller man.

"I…I really don't know, mate."

Merlin felt drained, but knew that they couldn't leave just yet. "I think perhaps we should wait here for a bit."

Gwaine nodded and carefully lowered Merlin to the ground before plonking himself down next to him.

"What do you think it is we're waiting for?" he asked after several minutes of silence lapsed.

Merlin shrugged but in his mind all he could think about was Arthur. It had to be Arthur this time; Gwaine's raising was an anomaly, maybe even a mistake.

_**There you go! :) See ya in a week! ;) xxx**_


	4. The Lord of the Rings

_**Back from America now! Here you go, put you out of your misery from that cliff-hanger ;) Hope you enjoy this bit too! Still more to come :) xxx**_

After an hour or so of waiting the two men were almost asleep, dozing lightly against each other as it was pretty late.

A soft splash near the shore brought Gwaine back to the present. Straining his eyes he looked over through the darkness to the source of the sound. As his eyes grew used to the gloom he realised what he was looking at. Not what, _who_.

"By the dragons…" he choked out, causing Merlin to stir beside him. In one swift movement Gwaine had leapt to his feet and was racing to the lakeside, knocking Merlin over in his haste.

"Gwaine what are you-"

"PERCIVAL!" Gwaine whooped, pulling the larger and completely bewildered man into a tight embrace.

"Gwaine?" he could hear the confusion and yet the overwhelming happiness in Percival's voice.

Merlin's own eyes adjusted and he saw several other figures nearing Gwaine and Percival in the darkness.

Quickly he muttered a spell and orbs of light flew from his hands, coming to a hover above their heads. Stood before him was Percival (who was standing by Gwaine) and behind them was Leon, Elyan and-

"Gwen!" Merlin exclaimed.

"Oh my goodness! Merlin!" she ran over and fell into his arms, hugging him close to her. Pulling back, Merlin saw the panicked expression on her face and tears forming in her eyes. "Merlin what is this? What's happened?" he opened and shut his mouth, unsure of what to say.

Gwen's brother looked around, frowning. "Where on earth are we? I am_ so_ confused right now!"

"ELYAN!" Gwen shrieked, she'd not noticed his presence until now. She sped over to him, before stopping herself and looking at him suspiciously. "Elyan…is that really you? But you were…" she took a step closer before pulled him into a huge hug, tears streaming down her face. He patted her back soothingly, but he too wore a puzzled expression.

"I don't understand" he spoke softly.

"Merlin, what's going on?" Leon's serious tone came then.

"Oh boy!" the warlock ran his hand through his hair (he would go bald at this rate) "Right. Well…um…welcome to the 21st century!"

When Kerry arrived back home that night, she was greeted by Merlin and Gwaine and four other people crammed into her house. They all wore glassy and slightly scared expressions as they sat in the living room.

She looked at Merlin who had stood up to come over and explain, but raised a hand to stop him.

"Just tell me in the morning," she sighed and then went straight to bed.

* * *

The next couple of weeks were bordering on chaotic. Now Merlin had to explain this new world to four more people, without letting Kerry know, as well as trying to find out _why_ they were all here. It was perhaps most difficult for Elyan to adapt, he knew nothing of the events after Morgana's enchanted sword had killed him at the Dark Tower. Merlin had to explain what had happened with Mordred and Arthur and Camelot so therefore Elyan was left more confused than the others.

As for Percival, Leon and Gwen, they had all continued living in Camelot and had all died at a ripe old age. To suddenly be brought back to life at the age of mid-to-late-twenties was disorientating to say the least. They'd already lived an entire life back in Camelot. In fact Gwen had given birth to Arthur's child several months after the King's death, and then had eventually married Leon (an event which Merlin himself attended). So much had happened in their previous lives but now they were young again, and in another era.

At first Gwen had been panicking; asking for her son, Arthur II, whilst Elyan was asking for the Arthur he knew. It took a while for the news that Arthur, the Once and Future king had died at Mordred's hand to sink in for Elyan, and even longer for Gwen to take in the news that her child was now long dead. Merlin consoled her and told her how her son had been a good and wise king like his father, once Gwen and Leon had passed away. He was then succeeded by his son at a good age and the line of the Pendragon household had continued to this day.

He shocked them all by informing Gwen, that the present day Pendragons, no longer had that name and that the direct descendant of Arthur and Guinevere Pendragon was in fact Kerry Mason. That was the reason why Merlin had stuck with her family throughout the years.

When Arthur died, Merlin swore he'd protect his best friend's family to the last and so far, he'd kept that word. It helped that they were a friendly bunch, and sometimes Merlin could see some of Arthur's good and moral character in them, perhaps it was his imagination. However Kerry _had_ called him a 'clotpole' on several occasions, a word she'd inherited from her father, and he from his father and so on.

This was partly the reason that Gwen took a shine to Merlin's housemate, even if the other woman didn't know her new housemate was her great-great-great (etc.) grandmother. And anyway, Kerry enjoyed the female company, seeing as the rest of the house was filled with big burly men.

The only excuse Merlin could come up with was that they were part of the same acting group that Gwaine was in. Kerry had been a little annoyed that she hadn't been warned their home would be overrun with strange people, but nevertheless found she couldn't help herself liking the group of strange, eccentric actors who seemed to be _really_ dedicated to their roles.

At the moment Gwen and Leon were sharing the spare room, and the other three knights were sleeping on sofas or air-beds in the living room. It was a little inconvenient, but nonetheless there was enough room. By now, Merlin had called the university to inform them that he couldn't continue working for the time being. He knew if he ever wanted the job back, they would snap him straight up again.

All Merlin's time was taken up with the knights and Gwen. He was practically running his own school from home, teaching the knights and Gwen about modern life as well as the history of the past millennia-and-a-half. Somehow he'd found the time to get to the shops and buy them all some up to date clothing. Gwen had offered to help him with this job and found it a very enjoyable activity. Feeding two women and five men was an expensive task as well and Merlin had never been more thankful that he'd had the brains to save nearly all the money he'd earned in his long lifetime; it made quite a fortune. He'd given a lot of it to charities and people who needed it more than he did over the years, but there was still a large sum which he now was putting to some use finally.

Poor Kerry was still a little unsure as to why they were all there, and she wasn't the only one. Merlin was driving himself nearly insane trying to find out why.

* * *

The days went by; Percival and Gwaine were both coping well using the distraction of each other's company to help lessen the impact of the new world. Merlin had almost forgotten how close friends the two men were. Gwen and Leon were a little more bewildered and slower to get over the initial shock but Elyan found it the most difficult. He'd not known about Merlin's magic, much like Gwaine hadn't. The other three however _did_ know. During Gwen's reign in Camelot, she, Leon and Percival had learnt of Merlin's power and had abolished the laws against magic, and so they were quite comfortable with Merlin being a sorcerer. Elyan however was a little wary of the warlock, but Gwaine had got over this by now.

During the day, whilst Kerry was out at work, Merlin would slowly take the group throughout the house, showing them the objects and utilities of each room, allowing their medieval minds to become familiar with them. Soon they could pass off as relatively normal people, except with blind-spots when it came to technology.

One evening, about a month after three people had become seven, Kerry had no work to do in the evening so decided to spend it with her new (hopefully temporary housemates).

"I want to watch Harry Potter!" Gwaine declared. He was rapidly getting into the popular series.

"Have you ever seen The Lord of the Rings?" Kerry called from the kitchen where she was busy making popcorn with Gwen, who was trying not to jump at every 'pop' the microwave caused.

"Seen what?" Gwaine wandered through, stripped to the waist; wearing only some comfortable jogger bottoms. Unwittingly Kerry's eyes wandered over his muscular torso, before snapping back to his face.

"Um…Lord of the Rings. It's a good film…" she mumbled, a little pink in the cheeks. Gwaine shook his head, oblivious to her roaming eyes.

He turned back and headed towards the living room again, whilst roaring "MERLIN! What's Lord of the Rings? Kerry says it's good!"

Kerry let out a sigh. "Why are the hot guys always taken or gay?"

Gwen blinked. "Sorry?"

Kerry gave a giggle. "Well it's alright for _you_, you've got Leon!"

With a blush, Gwen grinned. "Damn right I do!" she sat down on one of the kitchen-bar stools. "What about you?" She asked, but Kerry just shrugged as she pulled the popcorn out and grabbed a bowl. "Not interested in Merlin then?"

A loud laugh erupted from the young Mason girl and she nearly dropped the bowl. "Seriously, Merlin? Puh-lease! He's practically a brother. Anyway he's on the other bus."

Gwen frowned. She'd not heard that phrase before. "Bus? What bus?"

Kerry glanced over, raising her eyebrows. "On the other bus…? Batting for the other team…? I mean he's _not interested in girls!_" when the other woman continued to frown in a perplexed fashion, Kerry rolled her eyes. "_I mean_ he likes men."

At that point, before Gwen had time to react, Merlin walked in, rubbing his hands.

"Is that popcorn ready or not? Getting impatient over here!"

"Merlin likes men?!" Gwen exclaimed then. The warlock in question froze and blinked at Kerry.

"You like…I mean you…do you? Like men?" Gwen could hardly form a sentence.

Merlin stood still for a few seconds more, hesitating, debating his answer, before straightening his back and raising his chin. "No."

Kerry started with a shock. This was news to her.

Gwen looked nervously between the two. "Oh…er I wasn't going to judge. You'd still be my same old Merlin either way." She said quickly, giving an awkward giggle. At that moment, she reminded him of the awkward Gwen that Merlin had first met, always tripping up over her words or worried that she'd hurt someone's feelings.

Kerry finally managed to form some words. "You don't?! Bu-…but when have you ever…have you-…?"

Merlin shrugged. He didn't know how to answer. Women never seemed to bother him much, but he didn't like _men_…well, just perhaps…for some reason a particular shade of blue danced across his mind. A certain blue that he'd committed to memory and had not forgotten despite the many years…he shook his head. Why that had come to mind he didn't know. "Well glad we cleared my sexuality up…how about that movie?" he took the popcorn from the still shocked Kerry and walked back through to the living room.

Eventually the two women joined them all and managed to squeeze in somewhere in the crowded room. An hour into the film and the previous conversation had been forgotten.

"How many protein shakes do you take a day, mate?" she laughed as Percival's large bicep moved in front of her vision to take some of the popcorn.

Merlin rolled his eyes and sighed as he sat on the floor, a blanket pulled round him. "He doesn't take them, Kerry. Some people are just naturally muscular and don't need things like that."

"Well _you_ could do with some!" she winked across at him. Merlin poked his tongue out at her but smiled. She grinned back and squeezed herself out from in between the two larger men and moved to sit by him on the carpet. Merlin wrapped some of the blanket round her and she leaned against his shoulder in a sisterly manner. Gwaine immediately took her seat.

And so they sat and watched the rest of The Lord of the Rings, all of them (except Kerry) kept glancing over at Merlin whenever Gandalf the Wizard made an appearance.

It was a pleasant evening that ended with a popcorn fight, Gwaine and Percival took it a little too seriously by building another pillow fort and discussing strategies. Kerry found that she was becoming firm friends with this odd acting group and enjoyed their company.


	5. The Truth

_**Thanks so much for all the lovely reviews, guys! Glad you all seem to like it! :) Hope you enjoy this bit too! xxx**_

It was about another week later when Merlin felt, again the strange magnetic-like pull towards the lake and the calls of _'Emrys'_ echoing in his mind.

"Not a-bloody-gain!" he muttered, ever so slightly annoyed. But then a thought struck. This time, _this time_ it would be Arthur. It just _had_ to be!

Merlin had missed his best friend even more now that the others from Camelot had returned. All the good (and sad) memories of being with Arthur had been resurfacing in his head.

Quickly he threw on his coat and called to Gwen and Kerry to tell them he was just popping out, and with that he was gone.

It was an amazing feat that he didn't get caught on any speed camera on his journey and he made it to the lake in very good time.

He had barely parked the car before he was already halfway running down the path. This time he was ready and he stood; arms outstretched, ready for the magic to channel through him. Sure enough it came.

However this time it was different. More power, more magic was coursing through him than the last time. He could hear thunder rumbling in the distance.

"Come on Arthur!" he murmured. The magic stopped flowing and he slumped, exhausted to the ground.

The wind had picked up by now and Merlin tugged his jacket closer to him as she shivered in the cold breeze.

* * *

A while later he was pacing back and forth, just a short distance from the lake. He could tell it would rain soon. How like the prat to take his time so that Merlin would get soaked. With a small smile he turned to pace, his back away from the lake and had only gotten a few metres before he felt a strong force push him off his feet and he went soaring into the air. His head hit the a rock and he blacked out.

There was no telling how long he had been out cold, but it was already dark. As he slowly came to, he could feel ropes tightly biding him to a tree in the woods surrounding the lake.

Groaning in pain, his senses began to clear and take notice of what was around him.

He could smell a fire, feel it's warmth but he couldn't see anyone nearby. Suddenly his ears picked up approaching voices. And now he could sense something else. _Magic was drawing near_. He'd not felt that sort of power for many years.

With another groan he shook his head, trying to dissipate the groggy feeling. The voices stopped then, a little way off.

"Who's there? Show yourself!" he called, dreading the reply.

A cruel laugh came then, a cold, bone-chilling laugh. Merlin felt the blood in his veins turn to ice; his mind reeled in shock as he immediately recognised who it belonged to.

"Morgana…" he breathed.

"Hello Emrys." She purred, stepping round the tree and into sight. The High Priestess looked exactly the same as she had right before Merlin ran her through with Excalibur all those years ago: terrifyingly beautiful and a confident smirk twisting her lips.

"Thought you'd finished me off did you? Guess your sword wasn't so powerful after all!"

Merlin writhed in anger and frustration and started to utter a spell when to his surprise the cold tip of a sword came to rest on his throat. He gulped, feeling the point of the blade move with his Adam's apple. Glancing up he looked directly into the cold eyes of Mordred. The druid-boy didn't say a word, a steady warning look in his eyes, but upon studying him a little closer Merlin could see something else in the young man's tired face. An icy, yet ever so slightly sad expression.

"Now Emrys. Do tell. How is dearest Arthur? He was _dying_ to reach the lake last time I saw him!" again her mouth twisted into a sneer. The warlock turned to glare up at her, but she ignored his dark countenance and continued. "I haven't seen him anywhere nearby and seeing as how you two are never further than 5 feet away from each other at any time, it would seem that…perhaps he _is_ dead." She laughed once before the sinister, calculating look returned to her face. "I guess that means…" her mouth twitched at the corners, "that I'm Queen of Camelot!" and she began to chuckle to herself, though the sound was without humour.

"There is no Camelot, Morgana." The High Priestess's laughter cut off immediately.

"Don't be ridiculous, Merlin." She waved a hand at him, but there was an ever so slightly worried glint in her eye.

"There is no Camelot, no Arthur, no Albion and no Old Religion." He smiled bitterly up at her. Mordred's sword moved a little away from him uncertainly and Merlin ran his tongue over his dry lips. "This is the year 2013, approximately one-and-a-half-thousand years after you _died_."

"What nonsense is this? What are you talking about?" There was a definite note of anxiety in her voice now.

"You _did_ die by my hand. But then Arthur likewise died by Mordred's." The warlock gave the younger man such a terrifying look of anger and deep hatred that the druid-boy took a step back. "I have been walking this earth for 1,500 years since, waiting for Arthur's prophesised return. There is no Camelot to rule, no Albion to take over and no one believes that magic exists at all now. So you can put all thoughts of becoming Queen out of your head, Morgana."

She stared down at him and then up at Mordred who looked a little alarmed at Merlin's words.

"I…I don't understand…"

"Then use your magic to see inside my head. Don't try anything funny though, I could easily kill you again. I am far more powerful than you are; I only remain in these bonds so that you'll listen to me." Morgana cast another nervous glance towards Mordred, but he too looked scared now.

Quickly they both spoke some words from the Old Religion and their minds were transported into the warlock's head. They saw all that Merlin had seen over the years flashing by so fast, that it only took about 30 seconds. It verified all he'd just told them.

"No!" Morgana cried, staggering backwards once she pulled herself from his mind, Mordred fell to his knees with an anguished yell. "They…they all came back too?!" she spoke aloud, talking of the knights and Gwen.

"They're back at my house, with Kerry." Merlin cast a spell that released him from the ropes and stood to his feet, brushing his trousers down. Morgana automatically moved away from him.

"Morgana, Mordred, I'm afraid you're going to have to stay with me for a while. I know you may not like it, and believe me I'm not too keen on the idea myself, but there really is no Camelot to take over, as you've just seen. There's no vengeful purpose left, please…all you can do is return with me. I will look after you."

Slowly Mordred rose to his feet and sheathed his sword. He looked Merlin in the eye and sighed, his shoulders sagging. "Very well, I'll come. But I had no intention of taking over anywhere just so you know."

The warlock turned his head to the side, studying the druid. After a minute or so, he gave a nod and then looked towards Morgana, who was still clutching her neck and looking wildly around.

"Morgana?"

"Just…I need to…"

"Look I-"

"I know you're not lying! I just need a moment!" she hissed. After waiting for said moment, Morgana collected her wits and straightened her back.

"Well…if there's no throne to claim…then I see there is nothing to be done but to join you…" she looked as if it was the last thing she wanted to do. They were arch-enemies after all, or at least had been 1,500 years ago. But there was no point in that hatred anymore, all the reasons that had made Morgana so determined and a dangerous sorceress intent on the throne of Camelot had gone.

Hesitantly the High Priestess and the druid-boy followed Merlin. They really had nowhere else to go.

As they drove home, the warlock realised that it was finally time to tell Kerry the truth. Morgana, Mordred, the knights and Gwen could not hide their identity for long, and Merlin was weary of the lies. There was no point in hiding it any longer.

* * *

When Morgana, Mordred and Merlin stepped through the doors of the crowded three-bedroom house, the knights immediately went to grab their swords at their belts, but then remembered that they no longer wore them. So they then closed themselves around Gwen protectively, baring their fists at the trio.

"Calm down." Merlin motioned his hands in a defensive gesture. "They're not here to harm you or do battle. I have explained everything to them, there's no reason to be enemies any longer."

Morgana's eyes looked over the knights, her eyes coming to rest on Gwen. She glanced away quickly.

"What so now we have to all get along and pretend that we're the best of friends and everything is ok?" Elyan queried, his eyebrows pulled down into a frown. Merlin rolled his eyes and nodded.

"You want us to just forget that she tried to kill us all countless times? Succeeding twice." Leon spoke up. Elyan and Gwaine's eyes narrowed even more at her. "Not to mention to also forgive that traitor for killing Arthur?" he then pointed at Mordred, who swallowed hard and looked at the ground.

"Yes." Merlin glared at them all.

"Right. Well…In that case, I want an apology Morgana, for killing me…and Elyan" Gwaine lowered his hands from their ready-to-fight position and folded his arms. Merlin hid a smile; he couldn't help but think this was a little funny. The High Priestess pulled a face of scorn and disdain. "Good sir knight, may I remind you that _you_ attempted to kill _me_?"

"Yes, but you succeeded!"

"My sister-" she began but was cut off.

"YOU KILLED MY BEST FRIEND!" Percival roared suddenly, losing his patience. Morgana jumped in alarm. He moved over to stand in front of her; his muscles tensed, a vein pulsing angrily on his forehead. "You caused me and everyone else so much _pain!_ And Gwen. You killed her brother AND the one she loved. You have no idea how scary it was watching her fade like that! And Merlin! He disappeared for months in his grievance. And even when he returned…he wasn't the same. He still isn't, look at the man! It is evident that Arthur's death is still a torture to his very being! You took them all." He stood trembling for a few moments more. "And you took Gwaine away…" he whispered, the suffering he'd gone through evident in his voice.

"Never knew you cared…" Gwaine chuckled softly from behind. Percival cleared his throat and turned, smiling weakly before he gave Gwaine a manly punch on the shoulder and stood beside the others again.

Morgana blinked in shock for several moments. "I…I'm sorry." She breathed. Merlin's eyes snapped up to her. Did Morgana just apologise?

"I'm sorry I caused so much sorrow…I only wanted what was mine, I wanted a world where magic was understood and accepted. I didn't mean to…to…" she glanced up at them all then and looked them each in the eye. "I did not mean to become so obsessed that I had no compassion left. And I apologise for the pain and agony I caused."

Merlin's eyes widened at her as he saw what was left of the old Morgana in her; the Morgana who had cared for everyone in Camelot and had fought for justice with every fibre of her being. Morgana, who had been one of the kindest and most caring persons, he'd ever known. Maybe there was a little of that person left inside her, maybe he could find a way to bring that Morgana out.

The knights looked at each other before lowering their fists. Gwen pushed past them and approached the High Priestess. _'Easy, Gwen' _Merlin thought. He didn't want the suddenly apologetic woman to be pushed beyond her limits.

The Queen studied the sorceress, looking for any sign of deception in her eyes. Finding none, her mouth turned into a smile and she hugged the other woman. Leon took a step forward but Merlin reached out to hold him back. Morgana stood woodenly for several moments before awkwardly returning the embrace. They all breathed a sigh of relief before Mordred cleared his throat.

"I would like to say I'm sorry too. I wish things had…turned out differently in Camelot. When I was brought back to life earlier…I was annoyed. Angry even. I still am. I don't want to live with myself knowing that I did such an abhorrent deed. In fact I wish I hadn't been brought back. However I…I can't stress how sorry I am, I should not have done it. I just wanted to avenge Kara and I can see now that I went about it the wrong way." He looked at Morgana then. "And Morgana, I'm sorry. I lied to you. I didn't agree with your plans and beliefs. To tell you the truth I felt like a pawn in both yours and Arthur's game and I wanted it to just end. I was…I was planning to end my life after the battle anyway…but Arthur seemed to grant me that one favour…"

His voice trailed away before he straightened his back and stood a little taller. "What I did was wrong and I am sorry."

Everyone looked at each other uncomfortably, before giving Morgana and Mordred a short nod of acceptance.

"Well that was…interesting. Is…is that part of your re-enactment?" Kerry's worried voice came from the doorway. Merlin whirled round to see her standing there, wide-eyed and looking smaller than ever as she wrung her hands.

"Kerry!" Merlin gasped.

Gwaine moved forward, "Yes, we're just all rehearsing, that's all!"

"No, Gwaine. No more. I'm tired of lying." Merlin rubbed his temples, whilst Kerry's face took on an even more alarmed look.

"What are you all secret agents or something? Did I hear that you killed someone?" she turned her horrified face to Mordred who was just staring at her with a confused and bewildered look on his face.

"Kerry. I need to talk to you. Alone." Merlin pulled her arm and dragged her into the room they used as a library/computer room at the back of the house.


	6. The Insomnia

_**Thanks again for all the lovely reviews! 3 I've also been working on another fic (started way before I began this Merthur one). It's a prequel to this, set just after Arthur's death from when Gwen becomes Queen. It's how she copes with Arthur's death, rules Camelot and how her relationship with Leon begins. When this one is finished (which could be a while) should I post that too? Or should I start posting it now bit by bit like this one (but bear in mind I've not written as much of the Gwen fic as I have of Merthur, so it could be slower going)? What do you think? Leave your thoughts in the reviews ^.^ Oh and enjoy this next part! xxx**_

Kerry wouldn't talk to Merlin for days. She was outraged. He'd been lying to her all these years. And not just to her, but to her entire family!

Merlin's explanation had taken a lot of time, and Kerry didn't believe him for ages. It was only when he performed some magic to show her and then eventually cast a spell to let her see into his head that she'd realised he was telling the truth.

How had she not known that magic was real? Mind you it would explain why Merlin was the best at fixing anything. But how had she not seen it? And now she understood his aversion to the Arthurian myths, it brought up too many painful memories. But Merlin's explanation meant that a lot of the legends she'd grown up with weren't true. The warlock had grown weary of disputing them, allowing people to believe whatever they wanted about the Arthurian King.

But what most annoyed her, was that she'd not been told of her true descendants. Arthur Pendragon, her childhood hero, was in fact her ancestor and the woman she'd become close friends with over the past few weeks was her great-great-great (etc.) grandmother, and Merlin had never told her? It was a little freaky to be honest. All these people, excepting Merlin, had been dead! Every time Kerry thought about it she gave a shudder.

However she eventually began to talk to Merlin again, as well as the rest of them, whom she'd also been avoiding. She found she no longer knew what to say to any of them, so she stuck to mundane things like commenting on the weather or asking everybody how they were.

Merlin felt sorry for her. She was utterly confused and disorientated, almost as much as the 'resurrectees', as he liked to call them. But as the weeks wore on she grew used to the medieval antics of the knights, the cold reclusiveness of Morgana, the cheerful humour of Gwen…and the quietness of Mordred, the druid-boy. The house was crammed with people now. Two more airbeds had been bought; one for Morgana to sleep on in the library/computer room, and the other for Mordred to bed down on with the other knights in the living room.

Kerry noticed that Percival, Gwaine, Elyan, Leon and even Merlin treated Mordred with suspicion. They'd forgiven him, but still hadn't taken much of a liking to him again, after his betrayal all those years ago, and Kerry felt sorry for him.

As for Morgana, she was still edgy, harsh and quite frankly a bitch, but they learned to deal with it. The sorceress no longer had that drive of wanting to take over anywhere or wanting to kill anyone, and she seemed a little empty with her sole intent gone. Once she had learnt of how Gwen had allowed magic back into Camelot however, she treated the former Queen with a little more kindness than she did with anyone else. But she basically ignored Kerry. She hadn't known her before her rising, and she had no need or wish to now. Kerry being Kerry shrugged Morgana's indifference off and concentrated on trying to get to know her ancestor, Gwen more.

She loved to play with and style Gwen's long, curly, dark hair and the two would spend hours in each other's company; Gwen talking about Camelot, and Kerry about the modern world. It wasn't long before they were very good friends.

One night, after a long day at work and an evening of introducing Gwaine and Elyan to Xbox gaming, Kerry lay in bed. She couldn't get to sleep; in fact she was wide awake. It was a warm night outside, which only made her feel even more uncomfortable and overheated. She twisted and turned, the sheets tangling around her but only found herself becoming more annoyed. Glancing at the clock, she saw that it was 3:20am! A groan of frustration and exhaustion left her lips as she realised she had to give classes all day later. _'Sleep, dammit!'_ She thought angrily to herself, but she only felt more awake.

Throwing the covers off with a sound of irritation, Kerry got up and padded down to the kitchen. Passing the living room she could hear the snores and snuffles of the knights as they slumbered. She could just make out Gwaine whose air bed was pulled up next to Percival's. His arm was slung casually round the bigger knight, as if he'd turned in his sleep and unconsciously put it there. It seemed neither had woken and noticed, or if they had then they didn't mind and the arm hadn't been removed.

A small smile spread across her lips as she continued into the kitchen. Silently, she made her way over to the tap and poured herself a glass of cool water. After gulping half of the refreshing liquid down, she refilled the glass to take back up to bed with her. Turning round, she was about to walk out of the kitchen when she saw a hunched figure leaning over the counter, sitting on one of the bar stools.

She yelped and the water spilt all down her, soaking her pyjamas. The figure sat bolt upright in shock, ever so slightly disorientated as if whoever it was had just been asleep. Kerry saw two circles of gold flash suddenly in the dark and she realised whoever it was had just used magic, as the lights then flicked on.

Mordred sat and rubbed his eyes, "Kara?!" he frowned, confused with sleep but then his eyes widened and he corrected himself. "Kerry…" He blinked twice at her and covered his eyes, blushing hard.

"What-" she looked down at herself. Her _white_ t-shirt had been covered in water. "Oh bugger!" she looked around desperately for a hoody, a jumper, a coat, anything! There was one of the boy's cloaks folded over one of the kitchen chairs and she pulled it around her. The dark cloak was far too big for her and had about a foot trailing on the floor behind but it did the job, and it was quite warm.

Awkwardly she cleared her throat. Mordred removed his hands from his eyes hesitantly, the flush fading from his cheeks. He looked at Kerry in the cloak and smiled before giving a chuckle.

"Suits you."

"Yes it does rather, doesn't it?" She twirled round then but nearly tripped over the material. He automatically rose to help her, but she waved him away with a laugh. "Don't worry, I'm fine! Looks like you've not forgotten any of your chivalry." She straightened up then and cocked her head to one side, a puzzled expression on her face. "So what were you doing asleep in here?"

He sat back down and ran his fingers through his curly mop of brown hair. "Just er…couldn't sleep…I came in here to get something to drink and then by the looks of it I found that I _could_ sleep after all." He smiled wryly at her. There was something else behind those blue-grey eyes, but Kerry decided not to pry just yet.

"I couldn't sleep either, it's too warm. Here." She poured another glass of water and handed it to the druid. With a nod of thanks, he drank it down in three gulps.

Kerry moved round and sat on the stool next to him.

"So…magic huh?" she made a stab at conversation and he gave her a sideways glance before smiling. He had a nice smile, she decided; a soft one that seemed warm and inviting.

"Yup."

"Could you…turn me into a toad?"

"I can't see how that would be of any benefit to either of us."

"No well…I don't _want_ to be turned into a toad, but you know it's one of those things that witches and wizards do in fairy tales and I wondered if you actually could?"

He chuckled. "No. It's a very powerful magic, transfiguration and dangerous too. It's hard enough using an aging spell, but to turn a whole body into a completely different species…I don't even think Merlin could do that."

Kerry's bottom lip stuck out, "Aw that's disappointing."

"Anything else you want to know?"

_Why do you always look so sad?_ she bit back the question, and instead went for one she'd been wanting to ask Merlin since she'd found out about their magic. "Could you…read my mind? If you wanted to." Again he let out a laugh, but he paused as he pondered the question.

"I think so…in a way…but only if you allow me." He watched her perplexed face before smiling. "People with magic can send thoughts to each other telepathically. I could speak right now to Merlin or Morgana with my mind, though I doubt they'd thank me for it at this hour. I don't think it works for non-magic users…but if you clear your mind of everything else and just concentrate on me, and will your mind to let me know something, _allowing_ me to see your thoughts then maybe, because I have magic, I'll be able to hear it. But only if you focus hard enough."

Kerry screwed her eyes tightly shut and tried to clear her mind. _'Mordred…Mordred…I want you to hear me say your name. Mordred.' _she thought, concentrating hard on visualising the man sat in front of her in her mind's eye.

He laughed quietly. "Well it worked, sort of. My name is hardly an interesting message to convey, and it was barely more than a whisper but I heard it. Don't worry though. I guess it takes time to learn how to open your mind clearly enough."

With a sigh she looked down at her half-spilt glass of water, studying the droplets around the inside. When she lifted her eyes again they immediately met his, which had been watching her steadily. Whatever she'd planned to say went out of her head as she looked deep into the winter-blue eyes.

"Your hair…it's short." He raised his hand without warning and gently gathered a few locks of her hair between his fingers. It wasn't actually cut too short; more shoulder length really, but Mordred was used to a time when women wore their hair long. "I've never seen a woman's hair styled like that before." He stated, dropping his arm again. Kerry found she couldn't form any words. Finally she kicked her mind into action.

"Well I've never seen magic before."

A small smile appeared on his face and he waved his hand at the glass of water, his eyes glowing gold. The droplets rose into the air and swirled slowly round her head before gathering in front of her eyes to form the shape of a horse. Kerry's eyes widened and she reached out to touch it. It felt like cold glass. A bewildered smile spread across her face as she looked through the water to Mordred who was watching her thoughtfully.

"It's beautiful…" she breathed. With another wave of his hand, the horse galloped around her once and then leaped back into the cup. She grinned up at him then but he looked away.

"It's late." He said looking out the kitchen window to the dark street.

Chewing her lip, she looked down at the glass of water. "Yes well…suppose we'd better get back to bed then."

Mordred glanced in the direction of the living room, before heaving a sigh and rising slowly to his feet. Kerry took both glasses and placed them next to the sink.

Just as she was about to leave, she remembered the cloak around her. "Who's is this anyway?" she said fiddling with the buckle at the top.

"This one is mine…the other knight's cloaks are a dark red…mine's black." Mordred came over and undid the buckle for her.

"Oh…well thank-you for letting me get it wet!" she laughed, folding it over a chair, after which she stood by the kitchen door looking over at Mordred as he placed the bar-style stools underneath the counter again. "Goodnight, Mordred." She said hesitantly. He looked up at her and smiled kindly, though still there was a hint of sadness underneath the smile.

"Sleep well, Kerry." And she walked back upstairs, changed her damp pyjamas and settled back down into bed. For a few minutes she lay awake, thinking about the druid-boy. Why did he seem so sad all the time? Maybe it was the other knight's coldness towards him.

She realised suddenly that she didn't actually know much about Mordred and his life back in Camelot; all she'd been told about him was that he'd been the instrument Morgana had used to kill Merlin's best friend Arthur. Something had made him turn to the cold High Priestess. She tossed and turned a little, pondering what could be making Mordred so unhappy, before she finally fell asleep.


	7. The King

_**Loving the positive responses guys! Thank-you so much! Really hope you enjoy this bit too, I think a lot of you will! ;) xxx**_

Loud smashes woke Kerry early the next morning. Glancing at the clock she realised she'd only been asleep for 3 hours. It was quarter to seven in the morning. Time to get up anyway, but what had been that noise? Further crashes came from the kitchen and Kerry wondered if Mordred was still down there, performing some magic. It was loud whatever it was, and sounded like crockery smashing. Throwing on a hoody, she hurried downstairs and looked in on the knights. They were all there, even Mordred. That ruled him out then. Gwen and Leon, it seemed, had come downstairs with the noise too and had joined the others.

Like her they were wide awake, and all sat looking towards the kitchen; a sad but unsurprised look on their faces. "What's going on in there?" She asked them.

"It's Merlin. He's uh…frustrated. Don't worry; he'll fix everything once it passes. He sometimes had these episodes back in Camelot."

Kerry noticed that Mordred was sat apart from the others, his air bed pulled into a corner of the room. He sat resting his head on his knees, looking a little miserable.

"Well he's not done this before…not whilst I've been around," Kerry stated, perching on the arm of one of the sofas.

Gwen nodded her head slowly. "He probably has, but it's likely that he's just hidden it from you, or gone elsewhere for any outburst."

"Where's Morgana?"

"In her room, where else? She's just ignoring him."

Each crash and tinkle of cups and plates made Kerry wince but soon the noise stopped. A long silence followed and eventually Kerry got to her feet and wandered through to the kitchen.

Just as she entered, she saw Merlin wearily magic the last broken plate back together before he slumped down to the floor. A tear trickled down from beneath his closed eye-lids.

"Merlin?" she spoke softly. He looked up at her and quickly wiped the tear away.

"Kerry! Um sorry, I was…I just…"

She walked over to him then and knelt beside the warlock, pulling him into a hug. Sobs shook his body until finally he seemed to have no more tears left in him.

"Sorry about the noise…I woke you all up didn't I? I'm sorry." His face matched his apologetic tone and words.

"Don't worry about that. Are you okay now? What was the matter?"

"Yeh I'm fine now." He gave a sigh before suddenly launching into an outburst. "Why isn't Arthur back?! Half of Camelot's back and that _prat_ hasn't shown his sodding face at all! I mean how long is he going take? I've been waiting for one-and-a-half-thousand bloody years for him, and then everyone else comes back _except him_! It's just so bloody infuriating!" He took a deep breath after this tirade and glanced up at her. "Sorry…"

She shook her head. "No, no. You have every right to be angry and irritated. Heck I would be!" He smiled a little before it drooped again.

"It's been two months since Gwaine rose…I have no idea when or if Arthur will turn up, and I'm just so tired, Kerry."

"Why don't you take a break somewhere?"

"No not that sort of tired, although I admit baby-sitting this lot _is_ arduous. I'm tired of waiting, of living. My…my _soul_ feels weary." He rubbed his eyes before taking another deep breath. "Urgh I need a cup of tea. No, no. I'll make it, I need something to do." Kerry nodded and stood with him, watching him going about making the tea before heading back upstairs to get ready for work.

* * *

It made no sound as it glided out into the water. Merlin turned to watch the boat drift away, carrying his best friend. He couldn't breathe. He couldn't think. All he could do was choke on his own tears.

Gone. Arthur was gone. Merlin had not saved him from Mordred. That was all he'd had to do! Why hadn't he killed the druid-boy when he'd had the chance?! Now Arthur, his best friend, his King was lying in the small boat floating away on Avalon. Dead.

Another sob shook his body as he felt his already shattered heart break into even smaller pieces. He could still feel Arthur's hand, holding onto his head, as he'd slipped away.

The pain which the warlock felt could not be described. It was agony; it was taking all he could not to keel over with it. He couldn't believe that Arthur was actually gone. The prat had finally done it, and left him alone.

"You clotpole!" Merlin managed to choke out. The hysteria then began to build up until he let out a loud shout "You utter prat!" He was angry that Arthur had been so stupid to trust the druid, angry that he'd left Merlin alone, angry that he was gone. The silence that normally would have been filled by a sarcastic remark from Arthur roared in the sorcerer's ears until he covered them with his hands and sank to his knees, still gazing out to the lake with tears dripping down his face.

'_Arthur will rise again'_ the Great Dragon had said. When? When will he rise? Albion's need was great now! It needed Arthur to lead them as the Once and Future King. It needed him to help Camelot recover after Morgana's evil. Another sob choked out as Merlin rose and turned away from the lake. What in the name of dragons was he supposed to do now? "Arthur…please come back…" he whispered.

* * *

Merlin woke with wet eyes. He hated it when he dreamt of Arthur at the lake; it left him feeling miserable for several weeks afterwards. Looking out the window he saw that it was still dark, just about turning light. A glance at the clock told him it was four in the morning! With a sigh of irritation, Merlin threw off the covers. There was no point in trying to fall back to sleep, he knew he'd be lying awake for ages, thinking about his dream.

Quickly and quietly he dressed. Perhaps he'd go for a walk; he'd not had much of a chance to be on his own for the past couple of months after all.

With a nod, he decided he would go for a short stroll before breakfast; the fresh morning air would do him good. Softly, the warlock crept downstairs, avoiding the creaky steps and taking care not to make much noise, he let himself out of the door.

Outside he took several gulps of cool air, already he felt better. Merlin started to walk, unsure yet of his route. As he plodded along, he hummed one of Kerry's favourite songs to himself. 'King and Lionheart', wasn't it? With a sigh, Merlin realised the song hadn't really improved his miserable mood. It reminded him of Arthur too much.

After about an hour or so Merlin's steady pace slowed to a stop. Unwittingly he'd walked straight to the lake. Frowning, he wandered over to the car park. Again it was empty. He shook his head and rolled his eyes at himself, well it would be empty at this hour, wouldn't it? It was only 5:30 in the morning!

Turning back around, he drifted down to the lakeside. The sun was just beginning to rise; a mild orange colour tinging everything the light touched. Mist was still clinging to the top of the small hills that rose from the far side of the lake and as for the island-

Merlin blinked. He rubbed his eyes and stared intently, certain he'd been imagining it. But it was still there.

The ruins on the island that had stood for millennia had an odd golden light emitting from behind the half crumbled walls. The light then began to intensify suddenly and Merlin felt his eyes begin to blaze the same magic-gold. He threw his arm up to shield his eyes as the light grew so strong that it hurt to look. After a minute or two, the warlock risked a glance. The light was now travelling down from the ruins in an orb-like shape and towards the shore. Gradually the light submerged itself into the water and the entire lake lit up then and glowed a luminous gold before it faded again. Merlin stood, blinking the bright light out of his eyes.

"What the…" The warlock looked around him. The sun was slowly rising, the sky now a pinkish hue. It felt as if he was in a bubble of silence, his own breathing and heart beat the only sounds he could hear. The water was completely still, the colour of the sky reflecting in its mirror-like surface.

Merlin took a sharp intake of breath as he saw some ripples coming from the deeper water. The disturbance in the surface grew into more of a frothing and foaming of the water surface, like it was boiling in that one spot.

Something was rising from the lake, the water churning around it. Not something…some_one_.

"ARTHUR!" Merlin bellowed. The warlock threw himself into the water, unconscious of the cold. Using all his strength he waded as quickly as he could out to the person. "Arthur!" he breathed. The head looked up and Merlin felt his heart stop beating. The blue he'd dreamt about for centuries, the blue of the ocean after a storm, looked up at him. But then Arthur gave a groan and fell forwards.


	8. The Pendragons

_**So glad you all like this fic! Makes me happy! :D Hope you like this bit just as much xxx**_

Merlin, even in his disorientated and euphoric state, managed to catch Arthur before he fell back into the water. The weight of the bigger man plus his full body armour, however, nearly caused Merlin's legs to buckle, and then that would have been both of them under.

"Arthur!" Merlin choked out his name, repeating it over and over until he realised the King wasn't replying.

With great effort Merlin managed to get the clotpole's arm round his shoulder and he looked down at the face he'd been in torment over for the last fifteen centuries.

The King's eyelids were half opening and closing whilst his eyes rolled back into his head, showing the white, his head lolled to the side and water dripping down his face, _but he was here!_

The Pendragon gave another groan, and Merlin suddenly became aware of his weight, which seemed to be increasing as Arthur battled consciousness, leaning heavily against the warlock. With great effort Merlin managed to drag him to the shore and sit him down, leaning against a fallen tree trunk.

After several agonising minutes, Arthur blinked and reopened his eyes. They came to focus on a raven-haired man, staring intently at him.

"_Mer_lin!" The King's weak, yet unmistakeably delighted voice pierced the warlock's heart as he slowly struggled to his feet. Merlin had always loved the way the clotpole had said his name with the emphasis on the 'mer'. And the first thing that Arthur had said in over a thousand years was his name.

"Arthur…" the warlock whispered again, a tear trickled down his face before he launched himself at his king. Arthur almost lost his balance and fell backwards onto the ground, but he managed to keep them both steady. He frowned a little but placed his arms round his friend nonetheless. Merlin held on tightly, his hands bunching in the material of the soaking wet cloak the king wore.

"M-…Merlin?" Arthur sounded a little anxious, but Merlin just let the tears flow for a little longer.

"You clotpole! You utter clotpole!" Merlin muttered into the cloak.

"Oh that's nice! 'Hi Arthur, thought you were dead, but you survived. You're a clotpole', thanks, Merlin. Heartfelt that was, heartfelt!" the blonde chuckled. Merlin pulled back, red-rimmed eyes stared at the Pendragon. "Merlin…?"

"Arthur…you did die…"

Arthur smiled and raised his eyebrows at him. "Evidently not. You really are as stupid as you look, you know Merlin. I may be feeling a little tired –tired, not weak mind you- but I'm still kicking."

"Arthur listen to me, you're not in Camelot anymore!"

"Well obviously, we're at the lake-"

"No I mean, Camelot, the kingdom, the castle, the town…they don't exist."

"Merlin what are you blathering about?"

Merlin wiped his eyes. This was much harder than telling the others, Camelot meant everything to Arthur.

"Arthur…you died, I couldn't save you. I'm so sorry," Merlin broke down again, and instead of the sarcastic remark that Arthur usually would have said, the bewildered king simply patted his friend's back, with a worried expression on his handsome face. "Y-you died and I've been waiting for you to return for over a thousand years! I've been alive for one-thousand-five-hundred years; it must be something to do with my magic that's kept me alive but I've been here…waiting."

Arthur, a frown now on his face shook his head. "Merlin…I don't understand…what are you saying?"

With a sigh, Merlin began to tell him what he'd told the others so many times.

* * *

Arthur stared blankly at the floor, wringing his hands. The sun by now was fully risen; it must've been about eight or nine o'clock by now.

"Camelot…it's all gone?"

"The kingdom flourished, Arthur. It didn't crumble. Gwen did an amazing job as Queen and-" he stopped himself. Arthur wouldn't know that he had a son…or that his wife remarried...perhaps he should get Gwen over here to help him explain.

"Guinevere…Gwen. Was she okay?!" Arthur's deep blue eyes were trained on Merlin, staring at him intently. The warlock rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly. "Merlin! What happened? You're not telling me something, I know!"

"Arthur…listen…a lot happened after you passed away…"

"What. Happened. To. Her. Merlin?"

"Nothing…nothing bad…"

"Merlin!"

"Okay okay…" Merlin took a deep breath. "Just…stay calm alright? After you died, she was heartbroken, inconsolable…but she discovered that she was pregnant. With your child."

Arthur's eyes widened, his mouth opened and shut twice before he grinned, one of his full mouth grins that meant he was truly happy. The smile that had always sent shivers down Merlin's spine for some reason.

"I…I have a child?!" he spoke softly, the grin still in place. He ran his hand through his damp hair and laughed before his smile fell slowly. "But…if what you said was true then…"

"Yes. He died a long time ago, I'm afraid. Gwen named him after you: Arthur II. And he was a good King, like you and his son after him, and his daughter after and so on."

"You stayed with them?"

"I swore to protect your family till the day I died…" he trailed away, losing focus for a few moments before adding "which I must say, I regret doing now; they're all like you – clotpoles and they treat me like some sort of skivvy, not to mention the fact I seem to not be dying!"

Arthur laughed and gave Merlin and friendly shove. "So…are there any Pendragons left today?"

"Well…yes, but their last name is Mason now. I'm afraid a generation or two of girls ended the Pendragon name quite early on, but it's still your bloodline. I er…I actually live with your direct descendant…she's called Kerry."

Arthur eyes snapped to Merlin then, a frown on his face. "You what? You _live_ with her? My great great…great…whatever, you live with her?! Are you married to her then?"

Merlin laughed "No! Of course not!" and then he noticed Arthur's thunderous expression. "Oh no! We're not-…we don't- NO! We're just good friends, I wouldn't do _that_, I swear it Arthur. We just share a house. I'm protecting her an- don't look at me like that! It's _me_, _Mer_lin! Do you really think I would have a _girl_?"

Arthur narrowed his eyes at him again, before bursting out into laughter. "I'm only joking Merlin. You? A woman? Please! Though if I _do_ find out that you and any of my descendants have ever-"

"Aha nooo." Merlin shook his head vigorously.

"Well okay then." Arthur's voice was still rather surly, but there was a hint of a smile on his lips.

Merlin glanced over at him. "About Gwen…" the blonde looked up at him again and Merlin's breath caught at the dark blue eyes watching him.

"Yes…?"

He cleared his throat and continued. What the hell had _that_ been? "A while after you…died and your son was born…well she never _really_ stopped loving you but…"

"But…"

"She fell in love again."

There was a long pause while Arthur processed this, his jaw clenching and unclenching. "With who? Did I know him?" he somehow managed to ask around the lump in his throat. Merlin nodded. "Who?" Arthur repeated.

"Leon."

"Ah…" and he slipped back into the meditative silence for a while. Several minutes later, he swallowed hard, before looking back over at Merlin. "Was she-" he cleared his throat, "Were they happy?"

"Very. They married, I was there. But no one in Camelot ever forgot you. In fact…everyone still remembers you to this day. You are the 'Once and Future King', Arthur Pendragon! Children have story books and films about you, adults study your life; there are so many different versions of our adventures. You are legendary! Of course they don't know how much of a royal prat you were though!" he grinned cheekily whilst Arthur again was speechless. This was indeed an occasion if the dollop-head was at a loss for words twice in a row! "Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table! You're all legendary!"

"But they're all gone now…" Arthur murmured.

Merlin chewed his lip. "Actually…they're not." The king's eyes snapped to his again.

"What?!"

"I- I don't know why but Gwen, Leon, Gwaine, Percival, Elyan…and Mordred and Morgana have all come back from the dead as well…they're all back at my house."

Arthur threw his arms up in the air. "You might have mentioned this earlier, _Mer_lin!"

"Hey, I was getting there!"

"They're all alive? How? Why? When?" Arthur had been pacing but paused in front of Merlin to assault him with questions.

"Woah woah, calm down. I don't know. They've just been coming back at different times for the past two months. I was only told that _you_ would return!"

"Gwen's there…with Leon." He began pacing again. "And Mordred and Morgana?!"

Merlin stood then. "Look let's start walking back and I'll explain what's happened, okay?"

"But if Gwen's…I don't know if I can-…will she-…it'll be far too-" Arthur couldn't quite form sentences in his agitation. Merlin studied the other man before he reached out and placed a hand on his shoulder and gave it a squeeze.

"It'll be alright. Trust me." He half laughed, "She'll be as worked up as you about this." Arthur shrugged him off and began striding away, rubbing his jaw. "Um…Arthur…it's this way."

The blonde man stopped, turned round and strode past Merlin again, glaring at the ground.

"Clotpole!" Merlin laughed.

"Shut-up, _Mer_lin!"

And that's when Merlin finally felt it, for the first time in one-thousand-five-hundred years, pure happiness.

* * *

When Kerry went into Merlin's room that morning to give him a cup of coffee, she found his bed empty and the room Merlin-less. She shrugged and brought the hot drink downstairs and left it in the kitchen for him for whenever he came back. The knights were all still sleeping or lightly dozing in the living room and Morgana had come out of her lair at about eight to make herself a drink, before going back inside and shutting the door. Gwen and Leon were padding about the kitchen getting themselves breakfast in between quick little kisses. Kerry sighed, she sort of wished that Mordred would wake up; she could at least talk to him.

It being a Saturday, Kerry didn't have any classes. She had the whole day stretched out before her with nothing much to do, of course she could always mark things or plan some classes, but she really couldn't be bothered. She looked over at Leon who was, as usual, staring at Gwen like she was the most beautiful woman in the entire world. It was a mixed look of awe and affection. A smile appeared on Kerry's own face, she loved how in love Leon and Gwen were. With a wry smile at herself she shook her head. Urgh she wished she could have a Leon of her own.

Her mobile then began to ring in her pocket. Pulling it out, she saw Merlin's name flashing across the screen.

"Hey you, where are you?"

"_Kerry…I need you to do something, it's very important."_

Something about his voice sounded different, but good different.

"Uh sure what?"

"_I need you to take everyone except Leon and Gwen out for a while…like I don't know to the swimming pool or something?"_

"Really? You want me to babysit Gwaine and Percival? I'll have to put those child-reins on them; they act like they're five years old when they're together!"

"_Kerry…"_

"Alright, alright! I'll take them to the pool then. Do they have swimming things?"

"_Yeh I bought some a while ago-"_

But Merlin stopped talking, she could hear another man's voice in the background.

"…_Merlin what is that…why are you talking to it? Merlin? Merlin what are you doing? Merlin?..."_

Kerry frowned, she didn't recognise the voice but then Merlin's voice came again. "_Shush, you clotpole!"_ – that was _her_ word! – _"I'll explain later…er Kerry? You still there? Yeh they all have swimming things, okay? Just get them out of the house. Not Gwen or Leon though alright? See you later - OW what the hell-"_

"Merlin who-" Kerry began at the warlock's sudden angry outburst of pain but he hung up then, just as the other person began to laugh. She looked at the phone with a frown but then glanced up at Gwen and Leon who were watching her with raised eyebrows.

"Was that Merlin? Is he alright?" Gwen questioned, always concerned for her friend.

"Yeh…yeh he's fine…um he wanted me to take the others to the swimming pool but er…said he wanted you two to stay here, I guess he wants to talk to you guys or something?"

Gwen and Leon looked at each other with puzzled expressions but then Leon gave a shrug. "Of course, we'll stay here then. Did he say about what?" Kerry shook her head, with a mildly apologetic expression. "Well then…have fun!"


	9. The Queen And Her King

_**Bit of a long bit this :) hope you enjoy it too! xxx**_

It took quite some time to rouse the sleeping knights, persuade Morgana to accompany them and get them all ready and pack some swimming things for them but eventually they left the house and piled onto a bus. Elyan loved travelling by bus and insisted on standing up, holding onto the handrail. He also managed to get chatting to another passenger, a pretty looking woman who seemed to find the knight very interesting. When the bus reached her stop, she passed Elyan a piece of paper with some numbers written on them and hopped off the bus, after sending him a shy smile. He smiled back but once the woman had left, gave the small piece of paper a perplexed stare and handed it to Kerry to keep safe for him. She laughed at the knight who was now staring at the shrinking form of the woman as the bus continued.

Once they reached the leisure centre, she gently explained to the knights that they had to take off all of their clothes, and put on the trunks that were in their bags before they could go in the pool. They looked mildly scandalised for a few brief moments, but began to pull their hoodies and shirts off none-the-less. Kerry nearly screamed at them that they weren't supposed to do it until they were in the changing rooms. Morgana just stood cackling at them all.

Finally after shoving the boys into their changing rooms and taking Morgana to the ladies' they all emerged at the pool side. Percival, Gwaine and Elyan immediately realised what this place was and dive-bombed into the pool whooping and cheering, whereas Mordred glanced over at Kerry in her bikini and blushed, before he climbed into the pool and began swimming laps. Morgana emerged in her own bikini and immediately the male lifeguards and even swimmers gathered round her. She smirked and sauntered over to the pool side before sitting at the edge, dipping her feet in. For some reason she reminded Kerry of Regina George from Mean Girls. With a roll of her eyes, Kerry jumped in herself and began to race the other knights. She wondered what on earth Merlin had needed the space for.

* * *

Back at the house Leon was pacing and rubbing his chin thoughtfully. Gwen sat on the sofa watching him with a concerned expression.

"It won't be anything bad."

"Oh I'm not worried that it'll be bad…I just want to know what he wants to talk about already."

Gwen rose and took his hand. He stopped pacing to look at her. She smiled up at him and Leon's breath caught in his throat. There had never been a moment where his love for her had wavered; in fact it just seemed to keep growing.

"You're so sweet when you get worked up about something, you know." Gwen reached up and tucked a curly lock of hair behind his ear. She left her hand on his cheek and he leant into it, closing his eyes with a small smile appearing on his lips. His eyelids opened suddenly when he felt a pressure on his lips but upon realising what it was, melted into Gwen's kiss, shutting his eyes again.

The front door opened then and the two reluctantly pulled away from each other.

"Gwen? Leon?" Merlin's voice came from the hallway. Gwen sighed and walked through.

"Yes, we're both here. Why did you-" she stopped abruptly. It felt as if all the air had suddenly left her lungs, her insides tightened and her brain seemed to stop working.

Stood before her was Arthur Pendragon. _Her_ Arthur, the man she had loved so desperately all those years ago in Camelot. The man she had nearly driven herself mad over during her grief.

He looked exactly like she remembered, a mop of golden blonde hair resting just above those fiery ice-blue eyes. Leon wandered round the corner then and also stopped at the sight of his King.

"Sire!" he grinned and quickly bowed before he went to pull him into a manly hug.

"Good to-" Arthur cleared his throat, "Good to see you too, Leon."

Gwen was still standing immobile, tears glistening in her eyes.

"Arthur?" she whispered. Leon glanced round at her and then back at Arthur before he straightened his back and muttered something about the kitchen, before he walked off in that direction. Merlin decided to follow him and talk to the knight who was probably already planning his bachelor life by now.

Once they were alone Gwen took a step towards Arthur.

"Arthur…" she whispered his name again and the tears began to flow down her face. She hugged him tightly to her and he rather woodenly returned the embrace.

"Guinevere." He said in a toneless voice, she looked up into his blue eyes. They looked sad and pained.

"Arthur…I missed you so much!" she let the tears flow freely and held him to her, feeling all the loss and anguish she had gone through in Camelot return momentarily. She felt a sudden rush of love for him and for a minute, it felt as if none of this absurdity had ever happened, that they were back in Camelot, where there were no threats, no Battle of Camlann, no death, no pain, no grief, but that they were living the ordinary sort of life she should have lived with Arthur. An entire lifetime of 'what if's and possibilities flashed through both their minds and Gwen continued to cry, mourning the loss of their life together.

But then she remembered her actual life, what had happened instead and how Leon had picked up the broken pieces of her heart and had carefully, lovingly stitched them back together, mending each sorrow with his love. And with this memory, brought the reinforcement of her love for Sir Leon; Gwen had lived a life without Arthur and she loved another as her husband. Though this man in front of her was an intrinsic part of her being and although he still had a place in her heart, he was no longer Arthur her husband. She realised that the deep love she still felt for him, held a different kind of love, one that was much like the love she had for Merlin.

"Arthur…" she whispered again. Where to begin? What do you say to your ex-husband who has just returned from the dead? Did he know about her marriage to Leon? Had Merlin already spoken to him? Perhaps she should start with something that involved him, and showed him that he still was, and always would be, a part of her life. "We had a child; you have no idea how long I have wanted you to know that. I named him after you."

Arthur swallowed hard. "I know…Merlin told me."

"Ah…" she bit her lip, so he did know. "You understand that Leon and I…it was a long while after you…passed away that anything-…that we-…" He nodded.

"Are you happy, Gwen? Is he good to you?"

"Yes…I'm very happy, Arthur and he is wonderful…"

After a short pause Arthur nodded again, a bittersweet smile appearing on his full lips. "That's good…I just want you to be happy, Gwen."

"Oh Arthur." She buried her head in his chest and he this time he hugged her properly, as he soothingly stroked her hair, internally telling himself to hold it all together. "You have to understand that I loved you so very much! I still do…just it's not the same as before, things are different now."

"It's alright, Gwen. I understand. I wish you and Leon every happiness."

Gwen stood back, smiled and wiped her eyes. They both made their way into the kitchen where Leon was sat with a mug of growing cold tea, Merlin hovering nearby.

The knight glanced up at Gwen as she entered a questioning look in his eyes. She gave a little nod and he rose to stand next to her.

Merlin could feel the awkward radiating from them and hoped someone would break the silence. Arthur's jaw worked in a way that told Merlin he was going through many impossible emotions. The warlock knew that expression all too well and after all this time, still recognised it.

Arthur looked between Gwen and Leon, feeling something inside that hurt more than Mordred's sword. He had gone, died, that was it. She had had every right to fall in love again and remarry. He loved Gwen deeply. All the secret moments and kisses they had shared in their brief marriage assaulted his memory. He realised now, with a fresh twist of pain, that she had shared many more moments like that with Leon, and not him.

Leon was the man she loved now, he had been the husband Arthur that hadn't been. This man had been there for her when he had left her on her own, he had helped her to recover, rebuild her life, and rule the kingdom. Arthur had not been there for any of that. And so he must step back and allow Gwen to be with the man who had been what Arthur could have been, the man she now loved.

It was with a deep breath and a forced smile that Arthur broke the awkward silence.

"So tell me about my son." Both Leon and Gwen let out a relieved breath. The three of them sat down at the counter and Gwen began to tell Arthur all about his beautiful boy, Leon adding the odd funny story.

Merlin, knowing Arthur's inner thoughts, as he usually seemed to do, subtly placed a hand on the King's shoulder and squeezed it lightly and reassuringly. He would help his best friend through this. Arthur was back, he was finally back, and by the dragons he would help him in any way_, any way_ he could. It felt as if a great pressure from his heart had been lifted, he finally felt happy.

* * *

Back at the pool Kerry was floating on her back, gazing up at the ceiling. Gwaine and Percival had found the floats, which were technically for children, but they seemed to be enjoying them more than any child. Elyan was swimming laps, occasionally splashing the other two knights whilst Morgana was still surrounded by her army of adoring men.

As Kerry was floating about, she bumped into the back of someone.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I wasn't looking where I was going." She gabbled, twisting around so that she was upright. The man she'd bumped into turned and smiled down at her.

"Don't worry about it; did you lose your way? Need me to help you…in _any_ way at all?"

Kerry raised an eyebrow, "No I'm fine, thanks…"

"I can see that." The man's gaze wandered downwards and Kerry sunk herself further under the water, a furious flush creeping onto her cheeks. "Are you uh…sure you don't want any help?" he asked suggestively, moving closer than was necessary.

"Jog on!" Kerry shook her head before turning and swimming off. _'Urgh! What a creep,'_ she thought to herself as she fled, making a mental note to avoid him from then on. A yelp came suddenly from behind and she turned to see the creepy guy looking rather red in the face. She noticed his trunks floating several metres away from him and burst out laughing. Others turned to see and giggled too. Glancing around Kerry saw Mordred swimming nonchalantly close by. He caught her gaze and winked before beginning another lap. Kerry grinned to herself as the creepy guy finally reached his trunks and pulled them on hastily before climbing out of the pool and heading in the direction of the changing rooms. She laughed and reminded herself to thank Mordred and his magic later.

* * *

After about half an hour more in the pool, Kerry decided that they'd given Merlin enough time. Besides, she was getting cold. Somehow she managed to drag Percival and Gwaine from the floats, and tear Morgana away from her adoring followers and get them all back into the changing rooms. As Kerry was getting dressed in a cubicle, she heard Morgana's voice come from the one next door.

"So Kerry….Mordred hmm?" Kerry froze.

"W- what?!"

"_Please_, I've seen the way you stare at him!"

"I don't know what you're talking about, Morgana." Kerry sniffed.

The other woman scoffed. "You'll have to wait for a while for him to reciprocate any feelings though, dear. It may have been over a thousand years ago, but for him it's only been a few weeks since Kara!"

"Kara? Who's Kara?" but Morgana was silent again. "Helpful as always!" Kerry huffed to herself, and Morgana gave a mysterious chuckle. Kerry glared through the wall and focused on the woman next door. _'Bitch'_ she thought furiously.

"Hey!" Morgana exclaimed.

"What? Is something the matter?" Kerry asked innocently.

"Did you just-…no…it couldn't be. You can't do that…"

Now it was Kerry's turn to smirk to herself. She finished dressing and shoved her towel back into her bag before striding out of the changing rooms. Mordred was already dressed and waiting outside, leaning against the wall, his arms folded and his eyes closed. He looked as if he was asleep. Kerry turned her head to one side and studied him. He had quite a young looking face, innocent and peaceful. His damp, dark brown curls fell into his eyes which she could remember were a pale blue-grey. Kerry couldn't help but feel the need to protect him; he had one of those adorable natures that made anyone who saw him want to keep him safe.

'_Mordred'_ she thought and his eyes flickered open and came to rest on her.

"You're getting better." He smiled.

She shrugged, "Well I just insulted Morgana with my mind. She heard _that_ alright…but I got away with it, so I must be improving!"

He cocked an eyebrow and laughed, he sounded so cute! Kerry inwardly reprimanded herself at this thought. Maybe Morgana _was_ right.

It was as if thinking about her made her materialise. The High Priestess emerged from the changing rooms and narrowed her eyes at Kerry at first but then she looked over at Mordred. Another smirk grew on her lips and she winked at Kerry before sweeping past to wait for them all outside the building.

Kerry rolled her eyes but walked over to stand by the druid-boy anyway.

"Thanks for getting rid of that creep earlier by the way!" she smiled. Mordred grinned, it was the first time she'd seen him smile like that.

"No problem. Where I come from, a man should respect a woman."

Kerry stared at him for a few seconds before smiling shyly. "Camelot sounds nice."

"It was."

Kerry bit her lip, "Mordred…?"

"Yes?"

"Who was-" but her question was interrupted by the other knights who burst out of the changing rooms, laughing and hitting each other with their towels. They stopped abruptly at the sight of Mordred and exchanged awkward glances. The druid-boy sighed and stood upright before slouching out of the leisure centre. Kerry's eyebrows pulled down into a frown and she turned on the knights.

"Would you all quit that?! You're acting like children in primary school. Honestly! I'm sure you've all done things you wish you hadn't. He's younger than you, easily influenced; maybe he just needed some guidance from his peers!"

Percival rubbed the back of his neck uncomfortably; Elyan raised his eyebrows whereas Gwaine ran his hand through his wet hair.

"Well you see, Kerry…" Gwaine spoke up, "He wouldn't have listened to us, I mean he didn't listen to Arthur and he respected him a lot more than us."

Elyan nodded in agreement before he too began to speak. "Nothing we'd have said or done would've changed anything…it wasn't a simple matter with Kara…"

"What is it with this 'Kara'? Who on earth is she?!"

Gwaine's eyes narrowed then. "She was someone who didn't deserve Mordred." They walked past her then, a slightly pained look in their eyes as they remembered the events from all those years ago. Kerry was left standing alone in the foyer of the leisure centre, staring into space. Whatever had happened, Merlin had only told her half of it. Perhaps it was Mordred's secret to tell and Merlin hadn't wanted to spread the story. Perhaps it was too painful for Mordred. Kerry felt a tear spring to her eye and she wiped it away, confused. Why was she upset? She didn't even know what had happened. It was probably the thought of Mordred going through something so painful that it had turned him against his king. Kerry didn't want to think of the soft natured druid-boy being hurt in any way. Shaking her head at herself and the tinge of sorrow in her heart, Kerry went out to join the others who were waiting for her. Time to go home and find out what was going on with Merlin.


End file.
